High Hopes and Desperate Measures
by One of Three
Summary: Post HBP, D&G After a chance run in with Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley finds herself getting past the prejudices the wizarding world had instilled within her. As the Golden Trio run off to save the day, the littlest Weasley undergoes many changes...
1. A Ride on the Hogwarts Express

_**Summary: **__After a chance run in with Draco Malfoy, Ginny Weasley finds herself getting past the prejudices the wizarding world had instilled within her. As the Golden Trio run off to save the day, the littlest Weasley undergoes many changes..._

_**Disclaimer**__: All characters belong to the greatly talented J.K. Rowling. The plot is inspired from her works, and I take no claim to her genius. These characters are borrowed and I hope I can do Rowling's literary genius some justice._

_**Author's Notes:**__ I am constantly revising the posted chapters and correcting continuity mistakes. Names and other seemingly 'trivial' things had been overlooked, but are now being corrected._

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**Chapter 1 – A Ride on the Hogwarts Express**

Ginevra Weasley was annoyed. She was searching for an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express in which she could sit and ponder the upcoming school year.

Walking down the corridors, she peered into some compartments, recognizing many familiar faces.

To her left was a group of Ravenclaw sixth-years, one of whom she recognized as Luna Lovegood, otherwise known as "Loony Luna."

Walking ahead of her were Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, laughing and exchanging summer holiday stories.

She continued on her search for an empty compartment. On her right, she saw Neville Longbottom just settling into his compartment with her brother, Ronald, and his friends Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger. Not wanting to spend the train ride with the 'Golden Trio', she hurried past their door, slipping by unnoticed.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny spotted a seemingly empty compartment at the far right of the train corridor. She quickly opened the door and seated herself on the bench, shoving her trunk on the bench opposite her.

"Bloody hell, watch where you're shoving that thing," said a currently invisible, and obviously male, someone.

_Ah,_ Ginny thought, _bloody perfect. There is someone under an invisibility cloak in here and I just had to pick this compartment. Bugger…_

"Well, don't just sit there, girl, move your things before I make you move them!"

Realization dawned on Ginny. "Malfoy? Draco Malfoy? Why, pray tell, are you sitting in an empty compartment under an invisibility cloak?"

Draco pulled off the cloak as Ginny asked her question, all the while keeping a steady gaze on his intruder. His telltale smirk was plastered on his face with great disdain.

"Well, if you _must_ know, I'm hiding from that slag of a girl, Parkinson. Well, that is if you can even call her a girl…" He drawled. "She seems to have taken a liking to me and I, for one, am not about to stick around to see where that leads. Have you seen how heavy she's gotten since 4th year?"

_Why in the world is __Malfoy__, of all people, talking to __me__ about his love life, _wondered the confused redheaded witch.

"That's nice and all, Ferret, but that doesn't explain why you were sitting here hiding from the world with your cloak! You shouldn't have made it seem like this place was empty if you didn't want people barging in and shoving things on you!"

"I… Err... Bloody hell, Weaselette, enough with questions." Flustered, he seemed to be at a loss for words in an attempt to cover up his true motives for being where he was.

Over the course of summer holiday, Draco had been in hiding after the events of the previous school year. In his sixth year at Hogwarts, he had been in the Dark Lord's good graces, but after failing his most important mission, Lord Voldemort was fuming and had ordered Draco's death.

The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had been his murder target, but when he failed in his task, Professor Severus Snape, his Head of House and mentor, had stepped in and done the job for him. Unbeknownst to Draco, Professor Snape had made an oath to his mother that he would protect Draco and keep him from harm's way.

Severus had gone into hiding with Draco and his mother after these events, and it had been a gruelling time for all of them. At the summer's end, the professor had sent an owl to the Order of the Phoenix explaining what had happened and asking that they allow Draco Malfoy to return to the school under their protection. He was allowed entry to the school once more, but the new headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, put him under strict limitations.

Even though he had not murdered anyone or even had the dark mark on his arm, he was still thought to be a dangerous wizard and was to be watched carefully once on school grounds.

Draco appeared sickly and fatigued; a result of constant stress and worry over the past month or so. This was no change from how he had looked last year; he was obviously not well.

Draco looked closely at Ginny. 'The Weaselette actually looks concerned. Why is she not afraid of me after the hell I put everyone through last year? Does she not know how far into the Death Eater ranks I was meant to rise?'

"Weasley, I can't believe we're even having this conversation, let alone any conversation… Why are you not afraid of me? Walking onto this train, all I got were gasps and stares from just about everyone! How can it be that you're sitting across from me, with not even an expression of fear on your face?"

Ginny simply shrugged, "I'm not everyone." The fiery red head unfastened her cloak and placed it on the seat beside her in an attempt to show Malfoy that she had no intention of fleeing. She was trying her hardest to appear cool and collected. She was not afraid of Draco Malfoy and she would show him no sign of weakness. She was truly a Gryffindor to the core; bravery was her middle name.

_A Gryff and a Slytherin, sharing a compartment and conversation! What is the world coming to?_ Ginny wondered to herself.

Ginny knew that behind his excuse about hiding from that Parkinson 'girl' was a deeper reason, something that he was not willing to share with the likes of her. That was all right, considering she did not really care one way or the other what he was doing there, just as long as they would go their separate ways once they arrived at Hogwarts.

The rest of the train ride was spent in awkward silence. Ginny stared out the window most of the time, and Draco had been quietly, but fervently, scribbling away in a journal.

Occasionally, when someone would walk by their compartment, he would throw the invisibility cloak over himself in an attempt to hide. This was a sure-fire sign to Ginny that he had been covering up something in their earlier conversation.

As the train pulled to a stop at the Hogwarts station, they both donned their school robes, one with a Slytherin Badge, the other with a Gryffindor one. Despite the time spent together, nothing had changed between them; they were still so very different.


	2. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…

**Chapter 2 - Girls Just Want to Have Fun… Playing Quidditch?**

Sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall, Ginny was discussing the upcoming Quidditch tryouts with her brother and Harry. She was thankful that they had not questioned her whereabouts on the train and had just ignored her absence. Normally it would have bothered her to be unnoticed, but she had come to the point where she did not need constant recognition by her brother and his friends. She was finally her own person, and not just the youngest Weasley.

Over the summer, Ginny had done quite a lot of soul-searching, after having been dumped by the Boy-Who-Lived. At first, she had been depressed, but after three solid days locked in her room at The Burrow, she had concluded that Harry just was not the right boy for her and that though she was hurt, she was not broken. She would move on and grow out of her obsession, as she had been told to do many times before.

She had attended her eldest brother's wedding, and had been so happy for Bill and Fleur. The half-Veela had found her way into Ginny's heart and home and by the end of the summer, she had become fast friends with the blonde Parisian. They had had long discussions on girl issues, and Fleur had become like an older sister to her. Fleur Delacour had helped to empower her and she was forever grateful to the elder witch.

"No Ronald, I do not want to just sit around doing nothing this year, I want to play Quidditch just like the lot of you!" They had been having this argument throughout dinner, and she was fuming over the possibility of missing her dessert. Growing girls do need their desserts, no matter what elder brothers did to bother them.

Harry had accepted the Quidditch Captain position, but had forfeited his position as seeker for the Gryffindor team. He knew he had an arduous task ahead of him finding the remaining horcruxes and defeating Lord Voldemort, but he still wanted to have some semblance of a normal life at Hogwarts. He had appointed Ron as his deputy coach, to take over for him when it was time to leave on his search.

The Quidditch season would start next week, and Ginny was planning to keep her Chaser position she had held the year before. However, Ron was trying his hardest to dissuade Ginny from staying on the team for the coming year.

"Oi, Gin, you know why I don't want you to stay on the team! Those Slytherin gits don't play fair, and I don't want to see you get hurt. It was bad enough watching you play last year, and I don't want this year to be hard on you. As your older brother, and the deputy coach, II forbid you to be on the team!"

"Ronald Weasley you are such a prat! Mum said it was okay for me to stay on the team as long as I could focus on my grades, and that was the _one_ and _only_ condition, so why don't you just bugger off before I set a Bat Bogey hex on your sorry arse! Remember how bad I hit Malfoy with it last year? You had better watch your back, brother dearest."

With that, Ginny stormed off and left the great hall. She had missed her dessert as she had been afraid of doing and was thoroughly pissed off at her brother.

_Merlin, what's got her knickers in a twist?_ thought Ron. _I'm just looking out for my baby sister. There is a war coming up; I just wanted to be sure that she would be ready and able to help when the time comes. If she's too busy with Quidditch, how will she be able to cope? She's lucky I even want her to stay at Hogwarts during the war, she could be sitting at home knitting with mum if I wanted her to._ Despite his reasons for 'protecting' his sister, he was being hypocritical. He had every intention to play on the Quidditch team _and _help his friend in the battle against the Dark Lord and his minions.

Ron turned back to Harry and continued their discussion. Somewhere in the middle of their conversation, Hermione had joined in and quickly turned it into hushed whisperings about the horcruxes and their whereabouts. They all knew that the time would come when they would have to step up and lead the wizarding world into battle. Before that, they would need to find and destroy the remainder of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes.

Ginny was curled up in a chair in front of her common room's fireplace. She calmed down a bit, but was still annoyed with her brother. Even worse, she was annoyed with Harry for not even bothering to stand up for her. This as just one more reason why she knew they could never be together. All he would ever see her as was Ron's baby sister. Nothing more.

Her thoughts eventually drifted to the train ride. She still wondered why Malfoy had been hiding under an invisibility cloak, and why he had not tried kicking her out of his compartment. Something wasn't right, but she really didn't care what was wrong with the boy. He had always had it out for her and her family so there was no point in bothering when it came to Malfoy's feelings or mannerisms.

"Still," she wondered aloud, "why would he be like that?"

She shook thoughts of Malfoy out of her head and summoned her bag from her dorm room.

She took out her journal and started writing away about her day's occurrences.

For a long while after the events of the Chamber of Secrets, she had been afraid of writing her deepest thoughts and feelings in any journal, magical or otherwise plain. However, over the course of the following years in school, she had since calmed down and learned to trust again, even if it was only inanimate objects that she started trusting. She still didn't trust people, yet, not fully, anyway. That would come with time, how much time she did not know.

She was so engrossed in her journal writing that had not even noticed that her housemates had returned from dinner and were settling into their rooms or the night.

She fell asleep in her chair, and had a dream-filled sleep throughout the night.


	3. Draco and Ginny and Potions, Oh My!

**Chapter 3 – Draco and Ginny and Potions, Oh My! **

Ginny awoke with a start. Hermione was standing over her, with her hand on her hips looking like a carbon copy of Professor McGonagall.

"Ginny, I won't ask you what you were doing in the common room all night, but I just thought you would like to know that breakfast will be over in 10 minutes and then you'll have to get to class. Here's your schedule, it was on your night stand."

Ginny looked up at her friend apologetically, and took the paper from her outstretched hand. Looking down at her timetable, she glanced at the first class of the day.

"Double potions." she wondered, "But who will teach potions now that Snape is really gone? Slughorn's back?"

Hermione quickly explained that Professor Horace Slughorn had returned for another year of teaching potions, and that while Ginny had been sulking in the common room the night before, the headmistress had announced his return and the welcome return of Alastor Moody as the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher. They were in for an interesting school year, to say the least.

"Alright, thanks Hermione, I'll go have a quick breakfast, I don't want to be late on the first day back to school!"

She dashed down to the great hall, and ate the quickest meal in the history of breakfasts. She hurried down to the dungeons, not watching where she was going.

"Oof, Weasley, do you have a death warrant on me or something?" A now familiar voice questioned. Draco Malfoy was currently lying on the ground, his books strewn about him.

Ginny hadn't been paying attention, and had run right into the boy.

"Oh, Malfoy. I so didn't mean to do that, I was just on my way to class and I didn't want to be late. You know how it is…"

Around them, students were staring in fear. It was obvious that the other students at Hogwarts were afraid of the boy, but it was still unclear why Ginevra Weasley was unaffected by his reputation.

"Whatever, Red. Scurry along to your potions class, I'll let you live… This time." He winked for good measure. It was obvious he was joking, but why he was joking with her was beyond comprehension.

She continued on to her dungeon classroom, not noticing that Draco was walking behind her for most of the way. She got to class just one minute before Professor Slughorn arrived. She was lucky, now she wouldn't have to serve detention on her first day of sixth year. She was not planning to rival her twin brothers for the most detentions.

"Settle down, class, this is the new advanced potions course. Those of you who are here are the bright promising witches and wizards of this school, and I know you will make me proud. Do not make me regret my decision of bringing you into my classroom. I am putting my faith in you, and I expect your performance to be up to par with course standards."

Ginny stared at the professor for a moment and then turned around in her eat to see who else was in her class. Hermione waved and mouthed a 'sorry,' obviously apologizing for not having explained her timetable properly. Next to Hermione was Harry who was looking straight ahead at the professor.

Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a knock at the door.

"Sorry I'm late professor. I was… Caught up." Draco Malfoy was standing at the doorway looking for an empty seat.

"It's alright, my boy. Understandable. Just don't let it happen again, you hear? Take that empty seat next to Miss Weasley and do play nice."

Draco groaned inwardly, and sat down next to the girl. She paid no attention to him and listened intently to the potion instructions that Professor Slughorn was giving.

"Alright class, you are now prepared to make your potion. You must work with the student sitting beside you; he or she will be your potions partner for the rest of the school year. I will have no fighting in my classroom," he said, throwing a quick glance at Draco and Ginny. "Leave your petty house rivalry at the door. We are all mature adults here, and must act accordingly."

_Great, I'm stuck with freckle-faced Weasley._ Draco was not too thrilled to be working with the young witch. He had been seeing too much of her already, and it was only the first day of classes!

"You know, I'm not happy about this arrangement, either, Malfoy, but I do intend to get proper marks in this class. Do you mind maybe, I don't know, helping a little? I won't do this by alone." She was annoyed with Malfoy because he was just sitting there, ignoring her, instead of helping to prepare the potions ingredients.

"Alright, but only because I _always _make perfect potions. I won't accept anything less."

_Lousy arrogant git. This is going to be a long year…_ Ginny thought to herself. Of course, she would tolerate his presence if it meant doing well in her class. She was not about to ruin her track record. Potions had been her best class for the past couple of years, which was why Professor Slughorn had deemed her worthy of being moved up into advanced potions. It wasn't her fault that the teacher had a liking to the ferret.

They worked silently, side by side, every so often pointing out to the other something to do with the potion. By the end of the class they were the only pair finished and had bottled and labelled their substance before Hermione and Harry had even finished.

"Well done Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy. Five points each for successfully completing the potion, and before the rest of the class, too!"

The pair had worked well together, and it was obvious to those around them, even if it was not as obvious to them.

Ginny walked out of the classroom without even stopping to talk with her friends. She wanted to make sure she got to her next class on time.

She didn't know, but as she was walking out of the classroom, Draco was watching her exit the room. He was still wondering why she showed him no fear. If they were to work together, that was all fine and dandy, but it still irked him. He would get to the bottom of it sooner or later. Sooner, rather than later, he hoped.


	4. Don’t Let Friends Act Like a Poofter

**Chapter 4 – Friends Don't Let Friends Act Like a Poofter **

Draco Malfoy was annoyed. He had been given an empty dorm room at the start of the term, due to safety issues, but walking into his room, he saw Blaise Zabini lying on his bed.

Draco and Blaise had been best mates since birth, having had similar backgrounds and similar fathers. The only difference between them was that the Zabini family was not mixed in with Lord Voldemort's circle, and Blaise had never been interested in joining in, either. The Zabini family was to remain neutral throughout the war, just as they had done the first time Voldemort had risen. It was no secret that the Zabini family shared the same thoughts on blood and lineage that other Slytherins did, but his family did not act on those thoughts. That was the key difference.

"What are you doing in here? You need a password to get in!" Malfoy was confused as to how his friend had gained entry to his private quarters.

"I'm your best mate; don't you think I'd be able to figure out your password?"

They knew each other very well, almost as if they were brothers. Draco had not considered that when creating his password.

"I hadn't thought of that, Zabini. I must be losing my touch."

"You're right about that, Malfoy; I think you have lost something. What happened to you this summer? I know you had to lay low after that stunt you pulled with the vanishing cabinet, but I didn't think it was that bad. You never got the mark; they don't have any solid proof of anything."

Blaise was right; Draco had never received the dark mark. He was supposed to have successfully completed his task in order for the dark lord to reward him with that pleasure. However, he had not succeeded due to his own faltering. He had come to realize that he didn't really want the dark mark, anyway, and didn't want to be controlled by that vile creature. The only person who had ever controlled him was his father, and since his father had been incarcerated in Azkaban at the end of Draco's fifth year, he had decided that the only person in charge of his life was himself, and no one else.

The summer had proved to be a trying time for Draco, and he had lost some of the will to fight. He had no drive to control anything or anyone, not even himself. He was living in constant fear of attack, verbal or otherwise, from his peers. He had never been afraid of what anyone thought of him before, but now was different. His housemates were comprised of many death eater children, and he knew that they would not take lightly to his failure and betrayal of the Dark Lord.

"I'm scared, mate. I know what they must think. I'm a traitor, and I'll run to Saint Potter's side because I couldn't kill Dumbledore. I just don't know what to do! I've never been alone like this before. Everyone always followed me, and now what? I'm no leader, Zabini, I don't have my minions anymore, and all I've got is you." Draco's eyes shone, as he tried desperately to keep the tears from falling.

He knew that, no matter what, his friend would always be there for him. He never got this emotional ever; emotion was always thought of as a sign of weakness. However, after the events of the past few months, Draco knew that the ideas shoved into his head by his father were not as potent as he had thought they were. His father was rotting in Azkaban and Draco knew that he was, for once, safe from his father's watchful and prying eyes. He was scared of his father, but now he knew that he could be his own person, without the taint of his father's ill will.

"I'm here for you, mate, but you've got to keep it together. I won't have you crying on me." Blaise was looking out for his friend, but by no means was he going to let him be a pansy. Friends don't let friends act like a poofter.

"Thanks Zabini. Now get the hell out of my room already!" He laughed as he playfully pushed his friend out the door to his room. "Thanks."

He spent the rest of his afternoon writing in his journal. His journal had been a gift from his mother last year, when she had noticed he was being more quiet than usual at home. It was very different from her usual gift of sweets. She was afraid that he needed someone to talk to, but she knew she was not the type of mother to sit and talk with her child about anything and everything. She had neither the time nor the will to listen to a teenage boy prattle on about school or girls and everything wrong with the world.

Draco had been grateful to his mother for the gift, and had taken to writing down his thoughts and feelings, as well as poems and the occasional sketch. He had been writing in it on the train, when the Weasley girl had been sitting in his compartment.

He hadn't given much thought to the train ride since he had gotten to Hogwarts a couple of days before, but after spending his potions classes with her, he was curious to know why she had been looking for an empty compartment to begin with. Wouldn't she have wanted to sit with scar-head and his groupies?

A few hours had passed, and somewhere in that time, Draco had stopped writing his thoughts and had started sketching a very obviously Weasley girl in his journal.

_Oh bugger, when did that happen?_ He had not noticed when his writing had switched over to drawing, and he certainly had not meant to draw the littlest Weasley, either. She had gotten into his head, and he wasn't quite sure how that had happened. It wasn't as though he _liked_ the witch, by any means. They were just potions partners, for crying out loud, why should he be thinking about her now?

Something was going on in his head, but he was not aware of it. He had no desire to talk to anyone, and had an even less desire to yell at or ridicule anyone. He knew that things were different now; that his friends had not really been his friends and that they had just wanted him for his power. Now that he had no power, they wanted nothing to do with him. He could not very well go after anyone in school without his cronies; that would be quite dangerous for him.


	5. The Snake Doesn’t Bite… Much

**Chapter 5 – The Snake Doesn't Bite… Much **

Draco had taken to walking alone to class, and occasionally would miss dinner to sit in the library doing his schoolwork. He would do anything to avoid being around people. The golden trio had noticed his odd behaviour and just assumed he was up to no good. Ginny, on the other hand, was actually worried about the boy, though she wouldn't admit that to anyone, not even to herself.

One evening, Draco had missed dinner for the third time that week. He was sitting in the library, quietly finishing an essay for Professor Binns' History of Magic class. Goblin revolutions had never seemed so interesting before.

_Just one__ more sentence and then I'm free,_ He thought to himself.

Seemingly, out of nowhere, a heavy load of books and parchment crashed onto the table beside him. Looking up, he noticed that it was the Weaselette, with a look of anger on her face.

"What's up with _you_, Weasley?" He asked, but he wasn't sure if he really cared or not.

"If you _must_ know, Malfoy, my stupid git of a brother actually forbade me to stay on the Quidditch team and now I have nothing better to do than homework. Who does homework nowadays, anyway?" She snuck a look at what Draco was up to and quickly realized that he was indeed doing his homework and did not look upset at the prospect of doing it.

"I mean, err… Homework's not so bad?" She tired to save herself.

Draco chuckled, much to Ginny's surprise, and went on to explain that he wasn't really doing his homework because he enjoyed it, and by no means was he a male counterpart to Granger's determination to finish all her schoolwork by the end of the first week of school.

_He knows how to laugh? That's surprising._ She laughed along with him for a few seconds until she realized that she was laughing _with _Malfoy, and not _at _him. She quickly calmed herself.

Draco could tell that he was making the girl wonder about his peculiar behaviour, but he didn't care. Someone was finally not running away if he looked at them for more than a second. He should have cared that this was a Gryffindor and a Weasley, but at this point, after having been avoided and ignored by everyone he came across, Ginny was a welcome reprieve, despite her origins.

They spent the rest of the evening working side by side, not talking. People would walk by and stare when they saw them sitting next to each other silently. It was surely a sight to see, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, a Weasley and a Malfoy, coexisting at one library table. It was truly a Hogwarts miracle.

An hour or so later, Ginny realized that she was getting very hungry after having gone to the library instead of the great hall for dinner. She figured Draco must be hungry, too, so she leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Malfoy, you skipped dinner again. Let's go get some food from the kitchen. The house elves love me, I'm sure they'd help us out."

_Weasley's asking me to go to the kitchens with her, eh? This'll be interesting._

He shrugged and said "Alright, let's."

They put away their books and packed their bags, banishing them back to their rooms.

They walked to the kitchens in silence.

As they entered the kitchen, Ginny spoke to the house-elf closest to her and asked if it wouldn't mind preparing something for them to eat.

"Oh yes, yes, Dobby would love to give Harry Potter's friend food to eat! And her friend, too!" Dobby the house elf was excited to see Ginny, and was even more excited to be asked to do something.

"See, told you they loved me."

"No they don't, Weasley, they love Harry Bloody Potter. They just like you by association."

Ginny took what he said to heart but decided to ignore the comment and change the subject.

"Enough about Potter-boy, I'm utterly sick of him." Even though Ginny had gotten over Harry after their break-up, she was still quite bitter at having had her feelings thrown back in her face after having had time with the boy of her dreams. Harry had finally reciprocated her feelings, only to dump her a mere few weeks later. Ginny couldn't forgive him for that just yet.

"Never mind Weasley, I don't like talking about Saint Potter almost as much as you don't. Moving on…" Draco didn't purposely apologize to the girl, but deep down he did feel sorry for having brought up a subject that upset her. He didn't know where that feeling had come from, as he never cared about others' feelings before, and didn't know why he possibly would now.

The pair sat in the kitchen munching their snack and sipping their hot cocoa that the house-elf had prepared for them. They sat there, chatting away, with awkward silences creeping in ever so often. In these silences, Ginny would look at Draco and wonder what was going on in that silvery-blond haired head of his. She knew he was acting differently and couldn't quite grasp the concept of Malfoy sitting there talking amiably with her.

As Ginny would do that, Draco would blankly stare ahead and try to block out the feelings that were screaming at him inside his head. He was starting to think that maybe the Weaselette wasn't so bad, but he knew that he had hated her family for years, and wasn't sure if it was because of his father or because of his own notions about her muggle loving family.

They finished up their snack and stood up to go their separate ways.

"Thanks Weasley." He seemed surprised that he had said it, but continued anyway. "You weren't such bad company."

"Are you serious, Malfoy? You must've hit your head or something, because I could have sworn you just said you didn't mind my presence!" Ginny was surprised, but wasn't so against the idea. She never cared about whom she spent time with, as long as they were good company. Malfoy, having stopped ridiculing everyone who crossed his path, was actually not so bad, despite his past offences.

"G'night Malfoy, I'll see you bright and early in potions class, I guess." Ginny started walking in the opposite direction to reach Gryffindor tower. She walked off without looking back at him. She was too deep in thought to notice that Draco was still standing there, and hadn't started to return to his House.

"Yeah, see you around, Weasley." Draco waited until Ginny was out of earshot. He whispered to no one in particular, "Sweet dreams."


	6. Helloween is Coming Err, Halloween

**Chapter 6 – Helloween is Coming. Err, Halloween.**

Halloween was fast approaching and Harry, Ron and Hermione had made a breakthrough with the remaining Horcruxes.

The day before Halloween, Harry had set off to find and destroy the sixth Horcrux, leaving Ron as acting coach of the Quidditch team, and Hermione to gather his schoolwork for when he would return.

Obviously Harry wouldn't feel up to doing schoolwork when he would return, but just as he had wanted to head the Gryffindor Quidditch team for a sense of normalcy, so too would he at least have his schoolwork, if he chose to do it or not.

Ginny was a little worried for the boy, but wasn't hung up on his eventual return. She knew that he was capable of looking out for himself and that if he needed help, the Order would certainly give it to him.

She had been spending her evenings talking with Malfoy and doing her homework in the library, often missing dinner and getting a snack from the kitchens when they had finished their work. They still got looks from surrounding students, but not as many as before. They had become a part of the library fixtures and it was known that if one were to step into the library in the evenings, they were bound to see the pair working on their homework and chatting away.

One afternoon, as Ginny was sitting in her DADA class listening intently to Professor Moody rattle on about vampires and the different means of killing them, there was a faint knock on the door. It was Ron, and he was looking as white as a ghost.

"Professor, might I be able to borrow my sister? It's rather urgent."

The professor could see the sadness in Ron's eyes and could tell that there was something going on.

"Miss Weasley, you are excused, you may go now." He sent her off with her brother, hoping that whatever Ron had to say would not fully break the girl.

Ginny and Ron walked down the corridor, neither of them speaking. Ron placed his arm around her shoulders and took a deep breath.

"Gin, I… I have some bad news."

"It's not Harry, is it?"

"No, not Harry."

"… Well?"

"It's dad. There's been an attack at the Burrow. Luckily mum was out last night helping Fred and George settle into their new flat in Diagon Alley, but dad was home going over some files in his study. It was a surprise attack, and without our Order 'liaison' we couldn't have known of it beforehand."

"No!" She cried, "Is he alright? Is he hurt? Is he alive?"

"Shhh, Gin, let me explain. He put up a great fight; dodged the curses thrown at him, even as more death eaters kept coming. In the end, they were too much for him. He's been taken hostage, and we're pretty sure they're torturing him to get information about Harry and his search for the horcruxes…"

Ginny let out a sob, and slowly lowered herself to a crouch on the floor. She let her book bag fall off her shoulder and cradled her head in her hands. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to digest what her brother had just told her.

"How could this have happened? I though they put The Burrow under protection, there was supposed to be Aurors watching the house at all times! What the hell went wrong, Ron?"

Ron was at a loss for words. He simply bent down, and hugged his sister instead of giving her an answer. After a few moments of comforting her on the floor, he gently picked her up and walked with her to the infirmary to get a piece of chocolate and a dose of Calming Draught from Madam Pomfrey.

_So much for a great Halloween. Those stupid death eaters always ruin everything. I hope dad will be okay._ Ginny thought to herself. She knew that she shouldn't care about the Halloween celebrations at a time like this, but it was better to focus on something else, anything else, instead of the tragedy at hand.

Ginny stayed in the infirmary long enough to rest and be given a potion to calm her down and a piece of chocolate to soothe her nerves. In the evening, as the school was gathering in the great hall for dinner, she left Madame Pomfrey, and went up to the library to drown her sorrows in her schoolwork. She decided the library was the place to be, and not the great hall full of students.

As she entered the library, she walked straight past Draco's table and found a lone table in the back of the library. She dumped her bag on the table, lowered her head into her arms, and cried. She cried for all the people that the wizarding world had lost over the years of Voldemort's terror, she cried for her father, and she cried for the loss of innocence that she had endured since her first year and the events of the Chamber of Secrets.

She was so engrossed in her crying that she didn't notice Draco had sat down next to her and was staring at her in confusion. He had never had to comfort someone who was crying before. He didn't quite know what to do, but he felt compelled to wrap his arms around her and rock her back and forth until she would stop crying.

He decided to do the right thing and put his arms around her in a comforting gesture. She lifted her head in surprise when she realized that it was Malfoy who was holding her so gently.

He didn't know what had caused her to cry like this, but he knew that it must be something big if she was crying in public. She was not one to show so much emotion, aside from anger, in a public place. He knew this, as he had been a recipient of one of her famous Bat-Bogey hexes in the previous school year when he had angered her.

"Weasley, what's got you crying so much? What happened?" He was not used to this whole caring thing, but he knew that he should do something for the girl sitting next to him.

"He's been kidnapped! And maybe he's even being tortured! It's not fair!" She wailed.

"Potter?"

"No, you dolt, my father! Death eaters attacked my house and took him captive! He never did anything wrong, why would they take him? Why would they torture him?"

She let the tears run down her face and said no more. She sniffled and accepted the handkerchief that Draco was offering her.

"Wow, Weasley, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say…"

"Don't say anything Draco, just hold me."

Draco was startled at her use of his first name, even more so then her request for him to hold her. When had they come to the point where they were using each other's first names? He didn't know, but he was hoping it wasn't just a one-time thing. He rather liked to hear his name coming from her lips.

"Come on… Ginny… I'll take you to the kitchen. We'll have some hot cocoa and you can cry as much you want. How does that sound, hm?"

They walked together to the kitchen, following their usual evening ritual. This time, however, was different. They didn't sit together as two strangers sharing a snack. They sat together as one friend comforting another.

The pair was on their way to becoming friends. Neither had realized it yet, but they would not be so opposed to the idea at this point.


	7. Celebrate “Good” Times, Come On!

**Chapter 7 – Celebrate "Good" Times, Come On!**

Ginny had not slept that night. She sat in front of the fireplace thinking of her father and of all the horrid things that death eaters could be doing to him at the moment. She was so afraid for him, and she was worried how her mother was coping with the tragic events of the day.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she had not noticed Ron and Hermione walk into the common room and sit down in the chairs next to her. They did not speak, but just sat together, watching Ginny.

After a few minutes, Hermione asked Ginny if she needed anything. "You know, Ginny, if you ever need anyone to talk to or if you need anything at all, I'm here for you, and so is your brother." She patted Ginny's hand for effect.

"It's Halloween tomorrow, 'Mione. It's supposed to be a happy day! Why did they have to take him now? I was so looking forward to the celebrations at tomorrow's dinner! I know it's childish and selfish to be thinking about this now, but I need to know that things can go back to normal even though there's all this bad stuff happening, what with the war and…" She never finished her point; she just sat there staring into the fire, tears rolling down her face.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other in agreement. They knew they would have to do something to help get her mind off her father's kidnapping.

Hermione knew that Ginny always forgot about everything in her life when she would sit in the library, even if it meant sitting next to the bouncing ferret-boy.

Ron was not so keen on the idea of his sister spending time with an alleged death-eater but he knew that Malfoy had changed over the summer, and was not what he had assumed him to be for so many years. He was having trouble getting past his house prejudices, though, and made sure never to let Malfoy walk by without a snide remark thrown his way. He was always surprised to see that Malfoy never reacted and never threw back a snide remark of his own.

He had heard rumours of Ginny and Malfoy spending their evenings together in the library doing homework and talking together, as if they were friends or something. He had chosen to ignore the rumours, thinking that maybe people were just making it up as a way of getting to Malfoy.

However, earlier that night he had gone to check on Ginny in the library and had witnessed the most peculiar vision; that of Malfoy holding Ginny so tenderly and comforting her, in the back of the library. He was shocked to find that Malfoy had even known how to comfort someone. He had thought Slytherins heartless and incapable of feeling.

That had truly been a revelation for Ron, and he was surprised at how well he had taken the shock, despite his initial feelings of rage. He had been angry with Malfoy, but it had been misplaced. He was angry with the death eaters who had taken his father, and upset that Ginny was so distraught that she had been driven to crying on Malfoy's shoulder of all people.

Looking over at the chair in front of the fireplace, Ron saw that Ginny had finally fallen asleep. It was late and he decided not to wake her to move to her room. Instead, he summoned a blanket and covered his sister on the chair. He kissed her forehead in the cute brotherly way he knew annoyed her and motioned to Hermione to leave Ginny to her dreams.

Draco had gone up to his room after making sure Ginny had returned safely to her tower. He had spent those few hours with her in the library trying his hardest to stop her tears. He never knew that a crying girl could make his heart hurt so much. He ached for her, and wished that there were something he could do for her, aside from comforting her with his words and gestures. Sadly, there was nothing he could do, seeing as death eaters were searching for him, too.

"Come off it, mate, tell me what's gotten into you!" Blaise yelled at his best friend. "You've been sitting here for hours already just staring at the wall. You've got this strange look of concern on your face. Since when do you, of all people, get concerned about anything?"

He answered his friend without even looking at him. "It really is none of your business, Zabini. If I wanted to share this with you, I would tell you everything that is going on in my pretty head. I obviously don't, so just shut it, alright?"

Blaise was surprised at his friend's tone of voice and the words he had spoken to him. It was not like Draco to be so rude to him. Sure, it had been a normal occurrence for Draco to be rude to everyone in the past years, but never to him. He always saved his friendliness for Blaise and Blaise only.

"Does this have anything to do with that Weasley girl you're always spending time with? I was informed of her little breakdown in the hallways today."

"Don't even go there, Blaise. Not now, not tonight." Draco did not intend to share the day's happenings with his friend, at least not right then. He was in no mood to share his feelings with anyone, even if it was his best mate.

"I need to be alone. I need to think."

Blaise got the message and picked himself up off Draco's bed. He walked out of the room, stopping at the door to turn back to his friend and offer a smile. "You know where to find me."

With the click of the door, Draco took his journal out from its usual hiding spot. He opened his trunk and said a spell to unlock the secret compartment. He would not share his feelings with his friend, but he would share them with his journal.

He wrote down everything that had happened that day, and all the things he had wanted to say to Ginny, but had not had the heart to let out.

He closed his journal and set it down on his bedside table. Lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, he said no one in particular, "I may not be able to do anything for you, but I can, at the very least, be there for you, Ginevra…"


	8. All Hallows Eve Has Arrived

**Chapter 8 – All Hallows Eve Has Arrived**

Ginny awoke the next morning dazed and confused. For a few blissful seconds she neither remembered falling asleep on the comfortable chair nor the events of the previous day, and night.

She came to her senses slowly, but surely. She remembered that her father had been attacked and captured by death eaters the day before, and that she had spent the better half of the evening being held by a warm Ferret.

_Erg, how in the world did I end up crying in Malfoy's arms? If Ron had seen me…_

"Mornin' Gin" said a not so chipper Ron. He was sitting in the chair next her, and had been waiting for her to awake. "Don't worry about the time, the house-elves sent up some breakfast. We aren't expected to attend classes today if we don't feel up to it, and by the looks of it, that was a wise decision on their part."

Ginny stared blankly at her brother, sadness setting in to the pit of her stomach, sharing its company with a feeling of hunger.

"Well, that works for me. I'm simply famished."

"Wonderful." He motioned to the table placed in between their chairs. A tray of assorted breakfast pastries and beverages were set out for them. "Mum'll be coming to see us this evening, so I guess no time with Ferret-boy tonight, eh Gin?"

Ginny's eyes darted to her brother's "You know?"

Ron leaned over and touched Ginny's hand, "It's okay Gin, I'm not angry. At least, not anymore, that is. I had a long talk about it with Hermione after you fell asleep in front of the fire. I know he's changed, but he still irks me. He's not a threat right now, though. If he ever hurts you in any way, it will be goodbye Malfoy. Do you understand me? This is not a game, Ginny. We are at war."

Ginny looked down at the plate in her lap. She sighed audibly, and told her brother that she understood just fine and that if he did not mind she would like him to kindly shove off.

She was in no mood for protective older brothers this morning and simply wished to be left alone to her thoughts.

_Blimey,_ Thought Ron, _She's even worse than she was when she was getting over Harry this summer._

Despite his best efforts, Ron could not speak to his sister that morning. She was beyond approach, and he knew that it was in his best interest to give her space and time to calm down. He still did not understand why she had let a Slytherin like Malfoy comfort her and not even her own brother. It made no sense to his prejudice-filled mind.

Ginny had stormed into her dorm room and flopped onto her bed. She pulled the curtains closed around her and hugged her pillow tight to her chest.

_What'll I do?_ She wondered. _It's Halloween._

Ginny had always enjoyed the holiday, especially since she had entered Hogwarts. She loved the beautiful decorations placed in the great hall and around the enormous castle, and she felt a little regretful of having missed her opportunity to see the things she loved that morning at breakfast.

While Ginny was lying on her bed thinking of all the festivities she was missing, Draco Malfoy was down in the great hall admiring the decorations. He remembered Ginny mentioning once how much she loved Halloween and the decorations that come with it. He stealthily picked a bat shaped cookie and a black rose off his table, and put them in his book bag, before anyone could see what he had done.

That evening he waited for Ginny in the library, but she never came. He needed to talk to her; to be honest with her. He sat and waited for a bit over an hour and then decided that she was not coming. He went back to Slytherin House and locked himself in his private chamber. Left alone with his thoughts, his mind wandered until he was no longer aware of the goodies stashed in his bag or the absence of the redheaded witch he had been waiting for. All he could think about was the owl that had come to him at the breakfast table.

His owl had appeared with a note in its beak, addressed simply 'Draco.' He had recognized the stationary right away as his father's private stash. Even in prison, he still had access to the more luxurious items such as personalized stationary and a quill. This was highly unfortunate for Draco.

He read the note quickly, and stared at it in disbelief. If he had read it correctly, he now knew why Arthur Weasley was targeted and that it really had nothing to do with Harry Potter and his plight against the Dark Lord. Lucius Malfoy had ordered the attack and kidnap, in order to show his son that despite the fact that Draco was a blatant traitor it was still his right as Draco's father to teach him a lesson about blood ties and the importance of family history. It had come to Lucius' attention that his son had been spending a little too much time in the company of a certain freckle-faced, red-haired Weasley.

It had been clear to his father what he had to do for his son. It was now clear to Draco just how much he loathed his father. He knew that news of this would break Ginny's heart, but he had to let her know the truth. He had promised her in one of their last conversations before the tragedy that he would never lie to her, just as she had never lied to him.

Draco Malfoy hated his father.

Ginny Weasley loved her mother, but it was terribly frightening to sit and watch her cry like a four year old.

Molly Weasley was a very homely, no-nonsense kind of woman, but today she was more of a blubbering blob than anything else. Sitting in the Headmistress' office with her youngest son and daughter that evening, she was slowly recounting the sight she had come home to the previous morning.

"I had stayed the night at the twins' after helping them settle in at their new flat, you know how that must have gone, knowing your brothers… But, that's beside the point. I flooed over to The Burrow, because, as you know, we had the apparition fields blocked in case of attack. Whole lot of good that did! Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, I had come home by floo, and I was bustling about in the kitchen making tea and crumpets for Arthur, you know how much he likes his tea and crumpets in the morning, I wonder what he will possibly do without them? Oh dear…" Molly was crying again, and her son was patting her hand in a gesture that screamed 'Go on, mum.'

"Right, right, the kitchen. I was in the kitchen when I realized that all I could hear was my humming, when usually I could hear Arthur tinkering about with his muggle things in the other room. That was when I knew something wasn't quite right. I quickly checked the clock and that's when I knew. The clock said that Arthur was 'Kidnapped by Death Eaters, and Worse.'" Molly buried her head in her hands and sobbed deeply.

Ginny could not listen any longer. The pain that her mother was going through was unbearable, and she could see the anger building up in her brother. Ron's face was so red that it was hard to tell where his hair ended and his forehead started.

Ginny knew it was going to be a long night.


	9. The Return of Saint Potter

**Chapter 9 – The Return of Saint Potter**

A week after the kidnap of Arthur Weasley, Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts. He had completed his search for another Horcrux, destroying it in the process. All that was left was the bit of soul left in Lord Voldemort to destroy, and then the wizarding world would be free from his rage and terror.

Harry walked into the great hall that morning, after having apparated into Hogsmeade. Every head turned to stare at him as he walked over to his table.

Ron and Hermione looked up at him and gave him faint smiles. Ginny just stared into her plate of eggs and kippers. Across the hall, Draco sat, blinking in disbelief. He had not thought the boy would return, especially not so soon. He did not know what Harry had set out to do in his absence from school, but he knew that it had had something to do with the Dark Lord, which of course would have been quite dangerous for Harry to be off alone.

The trio whispered amongst them as Harry received stares from the surrounding tables, including the one with the staff members.

Taking his seat next to his friends, Harry quietly told of his findings to Ron and Hermione. He told them he had found the locket, but that he would explain later. There were too many people around..

Ginny sat idly, listening to Harry converse with her brother and friend, but silently wishing she could go back to the common room and curl up by the fireplace. Either that or hide behind a pile of homework in the library. Either would suffice.

The remainder of breakfast was spent filling Harry in on what had happened while he had been absent. Ron told him of his father's kidnapping, and of finding Ginny in Malfoy's embrace that same night. The first telling brought shock and anger into Harry's eyes, the second brought only discomfort.

Harry was more than aware that Ginny had grown up and was capable of making her own mature decisions. It had taken him all summer to realize that no matter what he said to Ginny, she would always do what she wanted, not what he thought was best for her. This made it obvious to Harry that they just were not meant to be.

At this point, he was proud of her for making a choice, despite the fact that it was Malfoy. However, he was a tad bit jealous that she was spending time with the Slytherin boy instead of with the Dream Team. They had always been a group, and it was only now becoming clear that even though their group was like a small family, the family members were sometimes in need of a vacation, to be independent, and to do things on their own.

After breakfast, the students made their way to the morning classes, not paying attention to their teachers. They were all, Gryffindor and the other houses, eager to hear of Harry's trip and what he had done during his absence from the school. For the most part, he stayed quiet, not telling anyone anything, unless their names were Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

By lunchtime, Harry had been to Headmistress McGonagall's office, and had discussed with her, and key members of the Order, exactly what had happened to him, and not just the basic story he had revealed to his close friends.

Dinnertime came around and Ginny had decided to work in the library, instead of staying in the common room or eating in the hall. She had known all along that she would end up there, as was her daily routine ever since that first time with Draco Malfoy. However, for the past week, since her father's kidnap, she had stayed clear of the library, not wanting to spend time with anyone, not even the boy who had comforted her when she had needed a friend.

She sat down at the usual table, and began going through her homework, just for show. Every few minutes she would look up, expecting the blond-haired boy to walk through the library doors towards their table.

He never came.

Ginny wondered what might be the problem, but never stopped to think of that day she had gone back to her common room after the meeting with the headmistress instead of going to the library to meet Draco. Had she thought of that, she would know exactly why the boy who occupied her thoughts so much was nowhere near the fourth floor of the castle.

In truth, Draco had no reason to be upset; he was merely overreacting as people often do. He had jumped to conclusions, instead of stopping to think of exactly why Ginevra had not been able to meet him in the library, and why she had not surfaced all week. Now, Ginny was doing the same thing; she was starting to assume the worst, that maybe Draco knew something she did not, and was trying to avoid her. That maybe he was starting to think that spending time with the littlest Weasley was not such a good thing after all.

Draco felt betrayed. People had always been somewhere when they said they would be, and that was just the way life worked for him. Despite the way people treated him this year, he had at least counted on Ginny to be reliable. That is what she had been to him since the start of the term. She was reliable and friendly; ever the good-hearted Gryffindor that she was supposed to be. All that had changed, however, when she had not shown up in the library for a whole week.

He had always had distaste for anything Gryffindor, but since Ginny had made her first appearance in his life this year, he knew that not all Gryffindors were bad, just like he was living proof that not all Slytherins were bad, either. This was starting to slip his mind, just as the house prejudices were creeping back into Ginny's, too.

Ginny waited in the library until its closing time. She collected her things, and marched back to her common room, with her head held high.

_Humph,_ she though indignantly, _That Malfoy has not changed as much I thought. He's just the same prat he's always been, just paler and more nervous._

She continued thinking along those lines as she finished her walk and entered the Gryffindor common room. She walked right past Harry and Hermione, and past Ron who was playing a game of Wizard's Chess with Dean Thomas. She stalked past Neville Longbottom who was doing Herbology homework in front of the fire, and headed straight for the sixth year dormitories.

Ginny threw her book bag on her bed and closed the curtains around her, and with a flick and swish and a silencing spell later, she was now left with the comfort of her own presence.

She cried into her pillow, all the while not knowing why Draco's absence had such an effect on her. She had not even realized that they had gone from being acquaintances to friends in such a short time, and were on the way to becoming closer than that, but were now at a roadblock due to each of their misconceptions of the other.

She spent the night crying herself to sleep, as she had done all week.


	10. Listen to the Hat for a Change!

**Chapter 10 – Listen to the Hat for a Change!**

Ginny and Draco went on with their foolishness for more than a week, both moping around their common rooms instead of confronting the other and straightening things out. It was quite childish and both knew that very well. However, that did not stop them from doing it.

Her brother and friends all assumed her introverted tendencies of late had to do with her father's disappearance, and no one had even thought it could possibly be due to Malfoy. Even though they were quite alarmed at her newfound love of curling up in the common room when not in class, it was no problem to her housemates that she was forgoing her daily library sessions with Malfoy to do so.

It was beneficial to the Golden Trio that Ginny was out of sight and seemingly out of mind. Now that Ginny was busied with her feelings and avoidance of a certain blond haired wizard, Harry, Ron and Hermione would camp out in the library doing research. It seemed that their roles had switched with the sad couple. It had always been the couple spending time in the library while the trio were being secretive in their common room.

The trio went into research mode to uncover any spells or charms that could help Harry in his fight with Lord Voldemort. He had returned from finding and destroying Salazar Slytherin's locket; one of the Dark Lord's remaining Horcruxes.

He had remembered seeing the locket at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and had remembered Mundungus Fletcher filching some of his godfather's family valuables. He was quite certain, after a thorough inspection of the grim old place, that the locket was not there, and that Fletcher must have taken it as well. He tracked him down, threatened Mundungus with incarceration for theft, and proceeded to get information from the fool on the locket's whereabouts.

Mundungus had sold the locket to a pawnshop on the outskirts of Diagon Alley, situated near the entrance to Knockturn Alley. After Harry had gotten this information out of the man, he ran to the pawnshop and paid an insane amount of galleons to get what he was looking for. Harry decided to use a Blasting Curse, as well as a "Reducto" on his purchase and then the locket, along with the part of Voldemort's soul inside it, was ancient history.

It was after he had destroyed that Horcrux that he had returned to Hogwarts to find his best mate's father missing and a rather depressed ex-girlfriend. It did not bother him so much to see Ginny moping around, as he had gotten used to that at the Burrow over the summer. After spending a mere two weeks with the Dursleys, Harry was relieved of the nasty family for the last time in his life. While he had been staying at the Burrow he had witnessed Ginny holing herself up in her room for three days straight, and not letting anyone in aside from Fleur Delacour, Bill Weasley's then wife-to-be.

By the time Bill and Fleur's wedding had come around, Ginny had let herself out of her room, but would still brood around the house. However, by the end of the summer she had reduced herself to only glaring daggers at Harry when he was around, but he was told that when he was nowhere near the girl she was quite a pleasure to be around again.

He knew that this time around, since he had nothing to do with it, Ginny's problem could not possibly be such a big deal and that she would deal with whatever it was because she had more important things to worry about. Harry, however, was dead wrong. Ginny had gotten over her father's disappearance, not that she had forgotten him or anything. She just put it at the back of her mind, and knew that worrying would not help him to be set free. She trusted the Order to get him out of harm's way as soon as possible, and that was why she was focussing more on her problem with Draco than the problem of her father's kidnap and torture by apparent psychopaths.

Ginny knew what Harry was thinking; as she had overheard a conversation that had occurred between himself and her brother, when they had assumed she was asleep in her chair in front of the fireplace. They had not been aware that Ginny had been awake and had witnessed every little bit of Harry's extreme arrogance.

The Boy Who Lived was not on Ginevra Weasley's good side at the moment, despite his heroic efforts to bring down Voldemort. It was more personal than the battle between the Dark Lord and her ex-boyfriend.

The other boy not on Ginny's good side was also under a self-inflicted House arrest. This did not go unnoticed by his Housemates. Most were glad that he did not grace them with his presence, with the exception of his best mate. Blaise Zabini, of course, had confronted him right away, only to be thrown out of his friend's private dorm room. Zabini had not attempted anything again; he avoided his friend until he would decide to let him know exactly what was going on with him.

It was obvious that their House prejudices were getting in the way, and that was very unfortunate for them, indeed. As the Sorting Hat had said the previous year's starting feast, they were all in danger and the Houses needed to unite otherwise they would crumble from within. The founders had worked together to create a school for the students to learn magic, it was only right that they must now stand together to preserve their school, to ensure that the wizarding world of the future would have a place in which to learn magic.

This school year, the houses had managed to attempt putting their differences aside, because of the impending war. However, as always, the Slytherin House was a bit slow at the realization that unity was the way to go. If anything, they did tone down their outward disdain for anything Gryffindor, but to their own House members that showed solidarity and friendliness toward others were immediately ostracized from their social circle.

Now that there was a father kidnapped, tensions were running high and feelings of helplessness were roaming the halls. Everyone could tell that something was going on and that it could happen to anyone. It was now known that the Dark Lord would stop at nothing to fulfil his plans of ridding the world of his opposition, half-bloods and muggles.

Aside from Draco's feelings of betrayal by Ginny, he also felt guilty that he still had not told her about the owl his father had sent regarding her father's kidnap. He knew the longer he waited to tell her about it, the higher his chances were of being hexed by the angry girl, but he just could not bring himself to do the right thing. He did not want to feel as though he was letting his feelings rule him; he thought it would be extremely Gryffindor of him to do so. That was the beginning of the breakdown of the tolerance and trust he had been building for witches and wizards of different backgrounds from the one he had.

Draco was never seen outside his common room, except during class time, and even then, he would only glare at the other students if they were not from his House. Ginny, on the other hand, still kept to moping about the common room, but occasionally she would be seen flying around the Quidditch pitch when it was not in use by the House teams. It was a great way to rid her of the tensions and feelings that were bothering her. It was also a way for her to ignore everyone and everything around her and just concentrate on the liberating feeling she always felt when on a broom.

The liberating feeling of flying was not enough to liberate the feelings that Ginny felt in her heart. She still did not confront Draco about his apparent disappearance. Neither did Draco, until the end of November rolled around. Their month-long avoidance led to a confrontation that could not be avoided.


	11. Enough is Enough

_**Author's Notes: **__CHECK IT OUT: _http:// img. albums/ v700/ wordsofwisdom/HHDM.jpg (Just without the spaces.)

* * *

**Chapter 11 - Enough is Enough**

It was not quite December yet when Draco had decided to confront Ginny. He did not consciously go looking for her, but he ended up on the Quidditch pitch to blow off some steam, and saw a distant form zigzagging through the sky. From far, he could see a red mane of hair flying behind the broom; he knew right away that he had found Ginny.

He quickly mounted his broom and sped off after the girl. When he caught up with her, she saw him out of the corner of her eye and she darted off at top speed. It was going to be a chase if he wanted to talk to her.

Ginny zoomed around, not caring where she led the boy, only that she could fly away from him. To the left and to the right, and then finally all the way down, she flew as fast she could. Just an inch before hitting the ground, she pulled her broom upward in a perfect Wronski Feint, but Draco apparently had not seen where she was headed, and did not pull back at the last second, as he should have.

Ginny kept flying, thinking Draco was behind her. She turned around to laugh at him, but he was not there. He was lying on the ground next to his broom, not moving.

"Oh, bollocks!" She cried, and flew down to where her friend's body was lying.

"Draco? Draco! Are you alive?" She quickly assessed the situation and realized that since there were no witnesses she could just walk away or stay and heal him. She argued with herself for a minute, and finally decided to bend down and have a look at the boy.

She touched his face and stared at the solemn expression he was wearing. He was breathing but it looked as though he was sleeping or unconscious.

"What have I done?" She asked aloud, to no one in particular.

"You've avoided me long enough, that's what!" Draco exclaimed, as he quickly stood up and picked up his fallen broom.

"You lousy git, I thought you were hurt!" Ginny screamed as she whacked him hard upside the head.

"Lay off, woman. _That_ hurt!" He said with an exasperated look on his face.

"I just wanted to be sure you'd stop and talk to me. I didn't want you flying off, again."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, in an 'Oh is that so?' look, and half snorted at the boy.

"Just watch me, Ferret."

Ginny quickly mounted her broom, and was about to fly away, but Draco was faster and grabbed her around the waist before the takeoff. He pulled her off, and banished both of their brooms to the broom closet.

"Get your hands off me, Malfoy, or I swear I'll hex you into tomorrow!"

She threw off his hands and started walking away.

"We need to talk. Now." He was very demanding, but he did not really care. He wanted to be heard and was utterly sick of whatever this was that was going on between them.

"Petrificus Totalus!" His spell was out of his mouth before Ginny even knew what hit her. "I'm sorry to do that Ginny, but you really do need to learn to listen when someone's talking to you."

She lay on the ground, staring up at Draco; that was all her body would let her do.

_Oh I am so going to hex his arse the second I'm out of this bloody body binding curse!_ She thought to herself; as Draco bent down to speak to her.

"Now, I'm going to talk and you're going to listen, just as it should be, alright?" He paused to think for a few seconds. "Ok, so I don't quite know what has gotten into you, but ever since that first day you didn't show in the library, I feel like you've been avoiding me, as if I've done something wrong. Sure, we still produce perfect potions in class, but you don't say a word to me. I don't know what I did to make you this way, but I do know that all I did was comfort you when you were having a rough time because of your father, and then the next day you completely brush me off. What gives?"

He frowned at that, and then stood up to walk around. "You see, I thought we were friends, Ginny. We talked a lot, you and I. But I guess when the going gets tough, the tough gets going, huh?" He paced back and forth, slowly, watching Ginny as he walked.

"I just want to understand why you have to be so Gryffindor-ish all the time. You could have been a Slytherin for Merlin's sake, why do you have to be such a prat!" And, with that, he flicked his wand and said "Finite Incantatem," breaking the spell and letting Ginny move again.

She jumped up as soon as she could and slapped Draco across the face.

"The bloody hell was that for?" He cried in pain.

"_That_ was for ignoring me for the past month." She slapped him again on the other cheek, "And _that _was for being an idiot and not asking me what was up instead of just assuming things."

Draco stared at her in disbelief. "Did you just hit me?"

"I believe so, Draco dear." She said with an evil smirk on her face.

"Now you're going to listen to me. See, I have it the other way around, here. _You_ are the one who stood _me_ up after all this happened. I thought you'd realize that after my father was kidnapped that _of course_ I wouldn't want to hang around people, including you, for a little while. I laid low for a while, but that first night I was in such a horrid mood after meeting with McGonagall and my mum that I didn't want to have to explain anything to you. I just wanted to be left alone. If you had even half a heart, you would have realized that was the case and wouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that! You are such a Slytherin! You don't know what this is like! You don't know what it's like to feel anything…" She broke off her tirade with a deep accusation.

"I don't know how to feel? Ginny, I have a heart. I may not always use it, but it _is_ there. It beats; it keeps me alive; it's hidden deep in my chest. It doesn't show, but it's there." He turned to walk away, but whispered quietly to Ginny, "You make me feel things I've never felt before."

His whispered words hung in the air as he continued walking away from the speechless girl.


	12. Nothing but the Truth

_**Author's Notes: **Thank you so much to all the reviewers so far, and to those of you who read and don't review! I am thrilled that you are all enjoying the story _:)

_This chapter is very dialogue heavy; I could not figure out how to balance it very well. I was not sure how to have them make up without moving things too fast. They are not a couple, yet, but things are definitely moving in that direction. They need to learn to trust each other first, and they really need to get rid of that prejudice they have._

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**Chapter 12 – Nothing but the Truth**

It was yet another day until Draco and Ginny had settled things between themselves.

They were sitting in potions class the next morning, neither talking to the other, but both turning to look at the other when they thought they were not paying attention. Ginny wanted to ask Draco what he had meant by his parting remark the other day, and Draco was trying to gauge how bad the damage was that he had inflicted with his confession.

As the class was ending and students were handing in their completed potions, Professor Slughorn said, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Weasley, a word?"

The pair walked up to the professor and waited for him to say something. After all the other students had left the classroom, the professor turned to the two curious students and gave them an answer to their unasked question.

"There is something wrong with the two of you and I don't quite know what it is. You are to stay here and talk this out; I will not let your little tiff affect my potions class or the potions you brew. Do you understand me?"

With a nod of the head and a "Yes professor" later, Draco and Ginny were locked in the potions lab, to be let out only when they had worked out their problem.

"Now, the door will unlock itself when the two of you have come to some sort of agreement. Good luck, children." And, with that, Professor Slughorn walked away from the dungeon classroom.

Neither of them had ever known their Potions professor to be a romantic, or to even care about the goings on of the student body. It was unexpected, but a pleasant surprise, nonetheless.

Ginny sat down at a nearby desk and glared at Draco. He did not move; he stood in front of the professor's desk, leaning back against it slightly, with his arms crossed in front of him. It looked as though he was thinking about something.

"So, are we just going to hang around all day, then?" Ginny was wondering aloud. "I do have classes to go to, you know."

"Oh do shut up, Weaselette. I also have to get to class, so we've both got the same problem here."

She laughed, "Shut up? Then we'll be here all day!"

"Fine, by all means, speak. You've looked like you wanted to say something all morning. So, out with it." He walked over to the desk she was sitting at and stood in front of her with his arms still crossed.

Ginny pouted like a child, and slumped down further into her seat. "Fine, I will! What you said yesterday… What exactly did you mean by that?"

"I meant exactly what I said" he replied, "I do feel sometimes, and right now I feel things I've never felt before, and it's all your fault."

"My fault? How can something be my fault if I don't even know what it is that's going on?"

"See? There you go being all defensive again! It's not always about you, you know. Stop being such a self-centred Gryffindor and just understand that this isn't so much about how you're making me feel, but the fact that I am even feeling anything at all. Didn't you just say yesterday how Slytherins don't know how to feel? Well, I'm feeling pretty pissed off right now!" He was getting upset, and was trying to figure out how to explain things to Ginny without being too sentimental like certain other Hogwarts students, of a different House.

"Talk to me, Malfoy. If you're saying that I make you feel things, things you've never felt before, then what the heck am I making you feel that it's so new to you?!" Yelling at the boy was not going to help anything, but she did not know what else to do.

"You really want to know, Red? There's no taking it back." He was going to tell her the truth, whether she wanted to believe it or not.

"Ok, here it goes…" Draco was stalling, though he seemed to want to share this with Ginny.

"You were right in the assumption that Slytherins don't feel. It is true, most don't even know how. They don't know because they've ignored or even avoided feeling anything. I always thought showing feelings was such a cowardly act, it was a sign of weakness; for Gryffindors."

"I…" Draco swallowed hard, and continued. "I've ignored mine for so long that when I finally started to feel compassion for another human being, it felt so strange. You make me feel like I care, and I have never truly cared for another human being in my life. Sure, Blaise Zabini's my best mate, but I don't feel anything for him aside from camaraderie."

"You care about -" Ginny was cut off before she could continue.

"Shhh, I'm not finished yet. I talk; you listen. Remember?" Draco said as he sat down on the desk Ginny was sitting at.

"I don't know how it happened, really, but over the weeks that we spent together, something changed between us. I hate to admit something like this, especially to someone like you, but I think I was scared. That has nothing to do with what happened last month, but it still was there, in the back of my mind."

Draco pondered for a moment, trying to think of exactly how to say what he knew must be said. "But, that's not the real reason I really needed to speak with you. I desperately needed to speak with you that first night without you in the library. It was so sodding important, and it hurt so much to have to keep it from you for so long."

Thoughts raced through Ginny's head. She did not know if he was going to say something crazy; maybe he had feelings for her; maybe he was a poof; maybe he was leaving. She did not know.

"This is so hard to say, Ginny, I know this will hurt you. Please, just don't shoot the messenger, alright?"

Ginny nodded, "Alright…"

With that, the door clicked as it unlocked itself. The two students had finally come to an agreement.

"The morning after your father was kidnapped; my father sent me an owl. It said that he had been the one to order the attack on The Burrow."

Draco paused to give Ginny time to react. Ginny gasped and brought a hand to her mouth in shock.

"He's the one that ordered the attack, not the Dark Lord. Mind you, Voldemort didn't mind the extra damage, but it wasn't done on his command."

Ginny could not believe her ears. If she was hearing right, Draco had just confessed that his father had been the cause of the pain and sorrow she and her family had felt for the past month.

"I'm so sorry, Ginny. Truly, I am. That too, is something I have never really done, but for the first time, I'm apologizing. I hope you can forgive me. I did so want to tell you about this when it happened, but I never had the opportunity."

Ginny tried to hold back her tears; she did not want to cry in front of Draco, again. "I understand. With all that's been going on with us, there is no way you could have told me anything. It's not as though you could have said it in Potions class, you know. I don't think that would have gone over too well."

"Ginny there's more." He looked genuinely afraid as he explained further. "His reasoning had nothing to do with Harry or the war. It was… It was because of us."

Ginny lost control of her tears, and they streamed down her face freely, at that point.

"I'm so sorry for what happened, but I am not at all sorry that you and I became friends this year, and you shouldn't be either. You've shown me what it's like to be a real friend, and I wouldn't change that for the world."

Ginny blinked back her tears, and reassured him. "Draco, I don't regret my decision to sit with you in the library that first week of school. I never will." She was hurt by his father's actions, but she completely understood that it was something that had not been in Draco's control. She could not hold it against him; he had told her about it, after all.

Draco attempted a smile and took Ginny's hand. "C'mon, let's get out of here before Slughorn comes back and gives us detention for missing our next class."

The pair walked out to their next classes, not knowing what was to come in the near future. They were not as close as they could have been, but they were well on their way to becoming more than friends; if they would be able to admit it to themselves, that is.


	13. The Great Escape

_**Author's Notes: **__NEW:_ http://img. photobucket. com/ albums/ v700/ underscore wordsofwisdom/ HHDM2.jpg (just without the spaces, and with a real underscore.)

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**Chapter 13 – The Great Escape**

It took some convincing, but Ginny managed to persuade Draco to go to the Headmistress with the information of the order for attack on the Weasley home.

He was going to tell of the letter he had received, but of not of the reasoning behind the attack. That information was to stay between him and Ginny, they were scared that they would be forced to stop spending time together, as a precaution.

Draco knew that if he told the Headmistress what he knew, then the information would be passed over to the infamous Order of the Phoenix. He was not sure if they would pay a visit to his father in Azkaban or use the information in any other way. He did not like his father, but he was certainly scared for himself if his father were to find out that he had shared the contents of his letter with the 'enemy.'

They walked out of the Headmistress' office the next day and were discussing quietly.

"So, Ginny, you really think they'll order the Dementors to give my father the Kiss?"

"Yeah, why not? I think he deserves it, don't you?" She replied, without hesitation.

"Of course, but those Dementors are not really reliable anymore. Ever since fifth year they've been under Voldemort's control, for the most part." They continued walking toward the staircase that led to the floor where the Library was situated.

Ginny had a logical answer for him. "Well, the way I see it, there's really not much the Order can do to him. I mean, he_ is_ already rotting away in Azkaban. How much worse could things get for him?"

"You have a point." He replied.

"Of course I do; I'm always right." She said with a smile. "Anyway, I'm sure we'll find out what they'll do soon. They won't just let this information sit around."

They spent the rest of that evening in the library, finishing assignments and hoping the week would pass by quickly.

By Friday morning, they had not heard back from Professor McGonagall about Lucius Malfoy. At breakfast, however, the DADA professor was missing from the staff table. Moments later, the doors to the Great Hall were flung open and Professor Moody came barging in, screaming for the Headmistress.

"Headmistress! Headmistress! Azkaban has been breached!" He cried, not caring that he was frightening the children.

The Headmistress did not lose her composure, and ordered the professors to the staff room for an emergency meeting. "Professors, emergency meeting. Now! Prefects, please direct your students to your respective Common Rooms; classes are cancelled for the day."

The students filed out of the Hall, after the teachers who rushed through the doors after Professor Moody. Ginny held back, waiting for Draco to catch up.

"This doesn't look too good, Draco." She said. "What do you think is going on?"

"I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough" was all he said. They walked silently for a few moments until they had to go off in different directions for their Common Rooms.

Up in Gryffindor Tower, Ginny could hear Harry, Ron and Hermione discussing the morning's events loudly.

"I knew it!" Harry exclaimed. "I knew something like this was going to happen! Remus said there had been an emergency overnight, in his owl this morning. Now we know what happened!"

Hermione interjected, "Yes, but that does not quite explain exactly _what_ occurred in Azkaban, Harry. For all we know the Dementors could have been let out, or worse!"

A moment later, Headmistress McGonagall entered the Common Room. "You three, follow me, please." She was taking the trio to the staff room to fill them in on what happened that morning.

Ron gave Ginny a sympathetic look, and followed his friends and the old witch out the portrait hole.

'Hmm, this must be pretty big if they're getting the trio involved.' Ginny thought to herself. 'I hope they fill me in later.'

Only the professors who were Order members remained in the staff room. Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and other members were present, as well. Molly Weasley was not present, and neither were her sons, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George.

"Settle down, please. Now that we are all here, I'd like to share the new developments with you." The Headmistress was ready to divulge the morning's activities to the Order.

"Alastor, if you will begin." And, with that, Professor Alastor Moody took the floor.

"It came to my attention this morning that there had been a break in at Azkaban Prison. I was brought to the prison to see the damage, when it was noted that ten prisoners, including one Lucius Malfoy, were missing. It is believed that Death Eaters stormed the prison late last night and took these prisoners with them. It is not known at this time what the Death Eaters are planning, now that they have their top 'officials' back in their ranks, but we are to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity. Remember, people, constant vigilance is key!"

Harry looked to Ron and then to Hermione and then down into his lap where his hands were clenched around his wand. He knew that something big was coming, and it would only be a matter of time before the plans carried out. It was necessary that he leave as soon as he could to find and destroy the last Horcruxes, Nagini and Hufflepuff's Cup.

If Harry could cause a distraction to Voldemort, he could get close enough to accost Nagini and to find the Cup. He knew that if it came to that point that the final battle would be nearby. He had to choose his time and place wisely, and make sure that everything was prepared to the extreme. Time and place were of the essence.

"Harry, it is imperative that the last Horcruxes be disposed of before the Death Eaters put their plans into effect. I do not know when would be best for you, but if we can hold out until after Christmas Holidays, I am certain that we will have procured a plan of our own to keep you safe while you do what it is that you have to do." The Headmistress had thought of the best solution for the Order at the moment.

"And, in other news, we have been informed that it was Lucius Malfoy who had ordered the attack on your home, Mr. Weasley. We are not clear on the reasoning behind it, but we know for certain that it was on his command, not Lord Voldemort's."

Ron jumped out of his chair at the shock of the Headmistress' words. Hermione grabbed his wrist and pulled him back into his seat.

"This meeting is adjourned. Mr. Potter, please, do put a lot of thought into this over the holidays. Until then, try to focus on your schoolwork, and know that we have everything under control. Mr. Weasley, we are doing everything in our power to locate your father."

The trio left the staff room with glum faces.

"Blimey, Harry, this is big." Ron said. "What'll we do, you think?"

Before Harry could answer his friend, Hermione interrupted with a thought of her own. "You know, we should maybe do some research before the Christmas Holidays. I know we'll all be staying here, but at least this way we can get most of it out of the way and leave some time for celebrating Christmas as best as we can, under the circumstances."

"Hermione's right, Ron. We have just under a month until we need to start worrying. I say we figure out a way to create a diversion for Voldemort without putting ourselves in too much danger, and then find out, somehow, if there's any sort of protective spells over Nagini that we would need to break. And don't even get me started on the dangers of locating the Cup! I was lucky with the locket; Regulus Black had taken out of its hiding spot already, so there were no curses to break. We might not be so lucky this time."

Ron agreed with his friends. "Yeah, Harry, but this time, we go with you. There is no way you're leaving us here. This is even bigger than the locket. It hits closer to Voldemort than ever before. It's dangerous. We could be risking our lives!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, and you should be, too, if you want to partake in it."

Harry hoped to convince his friends to journey with him and join him on his dangerous task. He knew that he could not do it alone, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself otherwise.

The trio walked off to their common room to fill Ginny in on what had happened that morning.

After they told Ginny about Lucius' escape from Azkaban, Ginny ran off to the Library in hopes of finding Draco and filling him in, as well. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found so she proceeded to the Owlery to send him a letter with the information. She did not want to keep it off longer than she had too; she knew all too well what it was like not to know something about your own father, and to find out only weeks after the fact.

As her owl flew off in the direction of the nearest window of the Slytherin Common Room, Ginny sat on a bench and gazed after it. She knew that when Draco got the owl he would need a friend. She only hoped that she could be there for him as he had been there for her in her time of need. She knew that Draco hated his father and would not be upset at his being missing, only that he would be scared of what his father would to him, and to her, when he found out that they were still spending time together.

Ginny stayed in the Owlery for another half hour, thinking over the day's events. She then retuned to her common room to spend some time with her brother. She was sure that he had heard of Lucius Malfoy's involvement in their father's kidnapping.

It was a long day for all of them.


	14. Time for Some Holiday Cheer

**_Author's Notes: _**_Biggest Chapter, so far! Almost 2000 words!  
Sorry if any of this Chapter seems a little off, I don't know much about Christmas or its customs because I don't celebrate it._

_Check out the One-Shot in my profile,_ **The Snowball Fight**_ to read about the group's fun in the snow._

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**Chapter 14 - Time for Some Holiday Cheer**

The weeks passed slowly, with Harry, Ron and Hermione constantly researching in the library. They had found a few books, some in the restricted section, which would help with the planning of a breach of Voldemort's lair to find and destroy the last Horcruxes. Nagini would be easy to capture, but Hufflepuff's Cup was a completely different story.

While the trio researched, Ginny and Draco were back to their routine of study time and visits to the kitchens. They worked well together, and even managed to finish some work that was not due until after the Christmas Holiday.

When the Holiday arrived, many students went home for the celebrations, except for the Weasley children, Hermione and Harry. The Weasleys would be joining them there, except for Percy, along with the rest of the Order, because it would be safer for everyone to be together at the castle. Draco Malfoy also stayed in school for Christmas; he could not spend it with his mother as she was in hiding with Severus Snape and his father was a dangerous escaped convict.

Draco planned to spend the Holiday on his own, while Ginny was off with her family and friends. However, a day before Christmas Eve, when all the Order members had arrived at Hogwarts, Ginny and her mother approached Draco outside the Great Hall on the way in for dinner.

"Err, excuse me, Mr. Malfoy, may I have a word with you?" Ginny's mother was a bit uncomfortable with what she was about to propose, but was doing it for her daughter.

Draco nodded, and waited for Mrs. Weasley's question.

"Ginny's told me that you are to be here for Christmas, and that you will be alone for the meal and celebrations."

"That's right, ma'am" He said in agreement.

"Well… Ginny was. No, _we_ were wondering. That is, would you care to join us all in the Great Hall tomorrow night, for Christmas dinner? It's certainly no time for a young boy to be all alone."

"Gosh, thank you Mrs. Weasley. If it's all right with you lot, I would like to. I'd _love_ to."

Draco immediately scolded himself, 'Did I just say gosh? What in the world has gotten into me?'

"Oh Draco this will be great, I promise! We even got Ron and Harry to agree to leave you alone throughout the meal, isn't that wonderful?" Ginny was excited to be able to spend her second favourite holiday, after Halloween of course, with her close friend.

They walked into the Great Hall in silence, Mrs. Weasley going to sit next to her eldest son, Bill, and Ginny seating herself next to Hermione. She motioned for Draco to sit next to her; it was not a problem because the students who left for the Holiday had left that morning.

The next day was Christmas Eve. The castle was decorated beautifully with green wreaths sparkling with red ribbons and mistletoe discreetly placed around the hallways. There was a huge fir tree in the Great Hall, dressed in silver, gold, red and blue tinsel along with floating candles placed in a pattern around it. On the top, there was a silver replica of the school crest, a symbol of the school's solidarity.

As the remaining students and order members walked into the Hall for their Christmas feast, everyone noticed the beautiful tree and the presents underneath it. They knew that the presents were to be opened the next morning, but the children all wondered what they had received and from whom.

Arthur Weasley had been rescued from the place he was being held captive. That place just so happened to be Malfoy Manor and he had been found a week after the emergency meeting had taken place, the first week of December.

There had been an Auror-led raid on the Manor, to search for the escaped Lucius. What they found instead had been a poorly watched dungeon, where Arthur had been chained to the wall. He had suffered many Cruciatus curses, but was still alive. The Aurors took out the three Death Eater guards, and sent them to Azkaban. They sent Mr. Weasley to St. Mungo's Hospital, where he received care for his injuries. He was then released a few days before Christmas. He had come straight to Hogwarts and was going to stay there with his family until school was to start again.

Arthur sat at the head of the table, as he was a guest of honour after having been kidnapped and missing for over a month. His family sat on either side of the table after him. Molly sat on his right, with Bill and Fleur next to her, and Draco and Ginny after her. It was better for Draco to be next to Fleur, because they were already acquainted from the Tri-Wizard Tournament and she was a proper young woman who would be polite to him, no matter what. Charlie and Ron sat on Mr. Weasley's other side, with Hermione and Harry after Ron. The twins were separated, for safety reasons, one on either side of the table after Ginny and after Harry.

After the Weasleys, the remaining professors and Order members seated themselves in no particular order, with the Headmistress sitting at the other head of the table

The meal went by nicely, with only one minor altercation involving the twins and Draco. Even though they had been separated, they still managed to cause some mischief.

Fred had thrown a napkin at George, on which he had secretly written a note. The note said that George, who was sitting next to Ginny and was closest to Draco, should slip a 'special something' into Draco's meal when he wasn't looking.

Draco, however, had been discreetly watching his plate and cup, in fear of the twins' reputation for fiddling with other people's things. He had seen, out of the corner of his eye, tiny yellow specks sprinkled in his pumpkin juice by the redheaded twin seated next to Ginny.

He quickly exchanged his cup for Fleur's, and, not a second later, Fleur had taken a sip from it. Suddenly, a big yellow canary sat in her place, and the entire Hall resounded in laughter.

When Fleur had changed back into her normal self, she merely glared at the twins and promised that she would get them back someday. Molly and Arthur were angry with them, and Bill had gone up to each one and smacked them upside the head as punishment for embarrassing his wife.

Since the twins had been blamed right away, they could not admit that they had been attempting a prank on Draco. That would only get them into more trouble, because they had also sworn to their mother and sister to leave the Slytherin boy alone during their stay at Hogwarts.

The rest of the meal went by without any more high-jinx. The twins, for having had their plans foiled, congratulated Draco for a job well done.

Due to all the Holiday cheer, Ginny had forgotten to be angry with her twin brothers for trying to embarrass Draco, and she had disregarded the fact that Draco had ended up embarrassing Fleur instead.

It was truly a magical night, and the cheery atmosphere stuck through to the morning, when it was time to open their presents.

The children were the first to arrive at breakfast, most of them not even out of their pyjamas. Next were the staff members and order members, followed by the Headmistress. While the adults sat at the tables, the students and Weasley children sat around the tree going through the many gifts set out for them.

The adults had already given their gifts privately, and were watching the children get excited over theirs.

Ginny had received some new products from the twins, a dragon fang necklace from Charlie, a French book of poetry from Fleur and Bill, and _Quidditch Through the Ages _from Ron and Harry. Hermione gave Ginny a copy of a full set of Transfiguration notes with a note wishing her luck studying for the NEWTS, even though they were still another year away for her.

The rest of them received nice gifts, as well.

Draco, however, did not have any gifts under the tree. He sat quietly next to Ginny, looking around at all the unwrapped goodies. When suddenly Mrs. Weasley walked over and dropped a package in his lap.

"Ginny mentioned you might not get any gifts from your family this year, so Arthur and I decided that you should get something from our family instead." Mrs. Weasley smiled at the surprised boy.

Draco opened the neatly wrapped gift and was pleased to find a grey sweater with green stitching spelling out the letter "D".

"Aw, no fair, Malfoy gets a normal colour! Why am I always stuck with maroon?" Ron complained under his breath, but loudly enough for Ginny and Draco to hear right next to him. .

Ginny giggled, "That's a nice colour for you, Draco."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. I appreciate this. More than you know." Draco said with genuine respect.

"I have a little something for you, too, Draco." Ginny pulled out a small package from the pocket of her pyjama pants.

She handed the small package over to Draco, and waited for his reaction. "It's nothing special, but I think you'll like it."

As Draco untied the ribbon, Ginny watched with a hopeful look on her face.

The ribbon and paper fell away to reveal a miniature snow globe with a small green dragon in the centre. She had sent away for it before the whole ordeal with her father had happened and it had arrived a day after she had made up with Draco.

"It's lovely, thank you, Ginny." He said, smiling at her. His eyes darted up for a second then looked back at her. He leaned in slowly and placed a soft kiss on her left cheek.

Ginny blushed and looked away from the boy, obviously embarrassed. She had a goofy little smile plastered on her face for the next half hour.

He pointed up and shrugged. "I… Err… Mistletoe, you know… Here, I got you something too." Draco pulled out a small box from his pocket and slid it over to Ginny. "I saw it in a catalogue and it reminded me of you."

Ginny opened the green velvet box to find a simple necklace with an imp charm dangling from it.

"You're such an imp; fiery and quick to temper." Draco admitted as Ginny stuck her tongue out at him.

Ginny chuckled, and thanked him. "Thank you, Draco, it really is nice."

Draco smiled in appreciation and the two sat there looking dumbly at each other until the twins broke the silence. "Time for a snowball fight! Everyone by the lake in fifteen minutes or we'll turn you into snowmen!"

The Weasley children, Fleur, Hermione, Harry, and Draco ran up to their rooms to change into snowy weather clothes.

They all had a wonderful Christmas, and the days to follow were magically fun, as well. Draco got along with everyone, mostly because he was ignored by the trio, and joked around with the twins. Bill and Charlie were tolerant of him only because they could see that he kept their little sister smiling more than usual.

School starting up again was a bit of a let down, only because the magical feeling of companionship that Ginny had felt with everyone there was to disappear with the separation of houses once more. She would always look back fondly on the Christmas of her sixth year at Hogwarts. 


	15. What Goes Up Must Come Down

_**Author's Notes: **__I am so sorry this took long; I had no idea what to write for this Chapter! I have the rest of the Chapters planned perfectly, some of them even written already! It was just this one that was giving me so much trouble. I am sorry if it is complete and utter rubbish._

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**Chapter 15 – What Goes Up Must Come Down**

The Holiday cheer soon disappeared and in its place was a newfound feeling of animosity throughout the school.

Not even a week after Christmas holidays, the Slytherin House started systematically targeting muggle-borns in the hallways. They would hex them when least expected, and follow them around all day. It was clear to all that something was amiss.

The professors could do nothing but dock House points or give detentions. Even if the assumption that they were doing things under the command of the Dark Lord was correct, the professors were incapable of calling the Slytherins out on it.

Draco could only do so much to warn students when he would hear the Slytherins planning, but in the end, the rest of his House would stop talking when Draco was in their presence. They knew he was not on their side and would only try to stop them.

They also had orders from Lord Voldemort to do whatever was in their power to make Draco Malfoy's life at Hogwarts as miserable as possible.

To get to him, they would taunt his Weasley friend with crude insults and juvenile hexes, and at other times, they would stalk him in the hallways and corner him in deserted areas. Once cornered, he would receive a beating and a reminder that those who defy the Dark Lord are liable to receive severe punishments.

Draco ended up in the care of Madam Pomfrey almost daily for a month and a half. It was mid-March by the time the Headmistress called the Slytherin House into the Great Hall one evening, along with their Head of House and the rest of the Hogwarts staff.

She told the students that they were toeing a very fine line between childish debauchery and illegal behaviours. They would do well to remember that though they were well on their way into a time of war, they were still students in a school where unity was once a respected ideal. Any student found to be physically attacking another would be suspended and given detention until the end of the school year, regardless of their reasons for attack.

Blaise Zabini did not take part in the hexing of students or the almost daily beating of Draco Malfoy. He steered clear of his Housemates and spent most of his time with Draco. When he could not stay away from his House, he stayed in his bed doing schoolwork with his curtains shut and with many spells set so that people could not get to him.

However, one day, he too was cornered and attacked. This was before the meeting with the Headmistress had occurred and there was no way for his attackers to be punished. He was told that if he were to align himself with Draco Malfoy or the 'other side' that he would sorely regret the day he had been born.

It was after this assault that Blaise Zabini had approached the Headmistress about the attacks on himself and Draco, and requested to be moved into the private dorm room with his friend. The Headmistress complied only when Blaise came back a second time, bruised and bleeding, along with Draco who was battered just the same. It was then that she had called the meeting in the Great Hall.

After the group of Slytherins had been chastised, they did not completely stop their taunting or random hexing and cursing in the hallways. However, they did end the physical attacks; if they did not stop those then they would be suspended or even expelled, and the Dark Lord needed them to stay in Hogwarts to perform his tasks.

While all of this was happening in the school, Harry, Ron and Hermione were still researching and devising a plan to destroy the last Horcruxes. They had decided that the best time to go on their expedition would be closer to the end of the school year in another two or three month's time. This would give them an ample amount of time to gather their resources and train the older students in case the battle with Voldemort would take place in or around the school. Until then, the trio would oversee the students' training and do whatever they could to devise a plan of attack and the defence of the castle in case of emergency.

Ginny, for all that was going on around her, was not as upset as she could have been. She had her brother, and friends, who were training her with spells ahead of her years, and she had Draco who would spend time with her and do what he could to keep her cheery, when he was not in the hospital wing.

When Draco was sent to the Hospital Wing resulting from the Slytherin's beatings, Ginny would visit him, if she could. Her friends and brother would not stop her, much to her surprise, and she managed to see him after dinner, when they would have normally been in the library studying together. They still maintained their routine, which did wonders to ease the tension that they were both feeling as a cause of the situation in the school.

At one visit to the Hospital Wing to see Draco, Ginny had happened to notice Blaise Zabini also lying in one of the beds near Draco. He had looked just as battered and beaten as Draco did, but Ginny had not know that he had also been targeted for the Slytherins' wrath.

That had been the first time Ginny had seen Blaise in the Hospital Wing, and Ginny had not been quite sure as to why he had been targeted as well. She had stayed longer that night, almost missing curfew, to hear his story. She had found out that Blaise was not like the other Slytherins; he actually had a conscience, like Draco. He could not bring himself to harm someone physically just because he or she was not like him. He knew that there was more to life than one's status and standing in society and that those were not important enough to cause bodily harm to another person.

At first, Ginny was shocked to hear this, but then she had remembered that she was trying to get past the prejudices that she held for so long. She had made that decision after her fight with Draco earlier in the year, and was now extending the idea to cover other Slytherins, as well, as long as it was deserved.

She had left the Hospital Wing that night just barely before curfew had arrived. Walking into her Common Room, she had ignored her brother and his friends and gone straight to her dorm room to mull over the night's events.

Now, after the Headmistresses' decree that no student could get away with physically assaulting another, Ginny knew that Blaise Zabini was, if not on the Order's side, at least not siding with the enemy. She understood that he was Draco's best mate and that he cared for the boy. That care also extended to Ginny, as she was Draco's closest female friend at the moment. Given that, she had taken to spending time with the boy when she did her schoolwork with Draco in the library. It was better that the boys stick together now that they knew exactly how the rest of their House felt about them.

The Golden Trio had been sceptical at first, but had soon grown accustomed to seeing the darker skinned boy around Ginny and Draco. They felt a little sorry for him, as he had been a target of the Slytherins' cruelty in the previous weeks.

The end of March brought with it a peculiar calmness in the school, which did not bode well for those on the side of good. They knew that this could only be the calm before the storm; something was brewing and they did not quite know what it was.

It would be another week until they would hear of the news in the wizarding world that would only be the start to something big.


	16. Something is Coming

**Chapter 16 – Something is Coming **

It was the first week of April, and though the students should have been playing pranks and being cheery, there was a sombre atmosphere that had seeped in. The only fools on April Fool's Day were those who still did not believe a war was coming.

One morning, during breakfast in the great hall, the trio received an owl delivering the day's Daily Prophet. On the front page was a picture of a burning house, with the Dark Mark emblazoned in the night sky. It was Hermione Granger's house, and her parent's were not in it. The article beneath the photograph said that the Granger residence had been attacked in the still of the night and that the couple had been tortured with multiple Cruciatus curses, leaving them in a catatonic state, much like the Longbottoms had been years ago.

Hermione ran from the Hall, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Ron and Harry stared dumbly at each other until Ginny threw down her napkin and ran after the sobbing girl.

The day was spent comforting Hermione and in emergency Order meetings. At this point, they were allowing not only the trio, but Ginny, as well, to attend the meetings. Everyone's lives were at stake, and it would do no good for anyone to be left in the dark about the everyday happenings during this war.

Over the next few weeks, there were many more articles like the one about Hermione's parents. The Dark Lord and his henchmen were picking off many muggle born witches and wizards. Their families were attacked and many ended up in St. Mungo's from long standing Cruciatus curses. It would not help the victims to be sent to Muggle hospitals, the muggle doctors would not recognize the symptoms or treat them accordingly.

In one particular Order meeting, it was decided that the time had come for Harry to go after Voldemort's last Horcruxes. It was almost time to defeat the Dark Lord, and every member of the Order knew what had to be done. The Headmistress, the current Head of the Order, agreed that it was best if Harry were to take Ron and Hermione along with him as this particular task was not to be an easy one and it would be helpful to Harry to have some support and partnership along the way.

The first of May brought the trio's journey to Voldemort's lair and, with it, the start of the last battle. However, they would not know of the latter until a couple of weeks after their return.

It was a night that first week of May that the trio decided to leave. They went by broom; Hermione and Ron paired on one and Harry on another. In the previous weeks, Hermione had found many spells to aid them in their journey and the things they had to do. The most important spell was the one that would make them seemingly invisible while they were to fly to Voldemort's lair.

As a last attempt at helping the Order, to prove his loyalties, Severus Snape had sent them the location of Voldemort's hideout. He was lucky to have seen it before the situation at Hogwarts when he had killed Albus Dumbledore. It had been Severus' second correspondence with the Order; the first being when he had informed the Order and the school of Draco Malfoy's return as a student and of his involvement with Dumbledore's untimely demise.

Once they had this information, and were on their way to find the Horcruxes, those students and teachers left at Hogwarts could only sit idly and hope for the best. Only members of the Order knew exactly what the Trio had set out to do. The remaining students only knew that they had left the school on some sort of mission. The smarter ones figured out quite quickly that it was something important to do with Voldemort and the impending battle.

It was halfway through the night when Harry, Ron and Hermione arrived in the outlying forest near the manor that Voldemort was using as a lair. They quickly shrunk their brooms and secreted them away in their pockets.

"Ok you two, listen up. We have just one shot once we're in. Ron you stick with Hermione as best as you can, and you keep each other safe. Voldemort will not kill me. Not yet, anyway. He would want to do it where everyone can see, I think. I'll go off to find Nagini and the two of you find the cup. When I've finished with the snake, we'll take care of the cup. Got it?" Harry gave his friends a briefing

"No, mate, we should stick together. I won't risk your life like that. We stay together; we'll be stronger that way, in case we get caught." Ron did not quite like Harry's plan.

Hermione interjected. "Ron, that sounds possible, but maybe separating is a better idea. At least that way if we get caught Harry can go back for help, or if Harry gets caught we can help him, too."

Harry, in the end, had the final say. "So that's it then, I get the snake, you two get the cup. Look for a side room, with items in glass cases. We all know how arrogant that git is. He would keep the cup in plain view for all to see. Just whatever you do, don't touch the glass before I get there, alright? It could very well be cursed."

The trio agreed and set off on their missions. Ron and Hermione found the room, easily enough, and started to observe the glass casing around the Cup. Harry, on the other hand, was having a harder time locating Nagini without being caught. Fifteen minutes later, Harry had finally located the snake, but, unfortunately, he was right outside the meeting chamber that was currently being used by Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Harry knew that Nagini was outside the room to keep watch and warn of any intruders, so he knew he had to make it quick, whatever he was to do. He quickly trapped the snake with a rope spell, and used a "Stupefy" to make the snake stop thrashing about. With a "Wingardium Leviosa," Harry started to back away slowly, the snake following behind him.

He proceeded to search for his friends, and the room where Hufflepuff's Cup would be held. He continued into the room, sending in the snake ahead of him. They were going to destroy Nagini before starting on the Cup.

"Alright, let's have it. We decapitate this thing with a 'Reducto', each, alright?" Harry gave his instructions.

The snake taken care of, it was time to proceed to the Cup beneath the cursed glass.

"Harry, we've figured out the secret to the glass, without touching it, of course. There is one weak spot, toward the top of the case, where we can each send a 'Finite Incantatem' and that should create cracks in the curse. After that, I'm not quite sure what we can do to it, but we'll figure that out in a few moments' time, I suppose." Hermione explained the situation to the boy who had just walked in.

They proceeded to crack the glass and then, at the last moment, Ron decided to kick the cracked casing to see what would happen. With a bright light, the casing shattered and sharp shards of glass went flying in every direction. Hermione, being Hermione, threw up a shielding charm to protect them from the flying shards.

Harry grabbed the Cup and was about to activate the portkey they had brought with them, when he felt a wand placed at the back of his neck.

"I would not do that if I were you." Said a silky voice, strangely similar to the drawl of Draco Malfoy.

The trio turned around to gaze upon their intruder with frightened eyes.


	17. The Return of the Trio

_**Author's Note: **I have finished all my Chapters!! The story goes to Chapter 20, and then there's an Epilogue. The Chapters will all be up by Wednesday at the latest. Yay, it's done!_

Harry, Ron, and Hermione gazed at the man who had sired Draco Malfoy. He was the man who had been responsible for the cursed Diary ending up in Ginny Weasley's possession and the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. He was the man who could probably kill them all, right then and there.

"My word, aren't we a pathetic lot." Lucius sneered at the Trio, in his famous Malfoy way. "I dare say your mere presence here had almost gone unnoticed. I, fortunately, had taken a break from the Death Eater meeting in our Chamber, and had come across some blood on the floor in the foyer."

This was a lie, as Nagini had sent Voldemort a message before Harry slew him, and the Dark Lord had sent out Lucius following a plan. The trio knew none of this, of course.

Harry cursed under his breath; he thought he had cleaned up after himself better than that. He had been wrong, it seemed.

Continuing his story, Lucius proceed. "Now, by the absence of my Lord's beloved pet from his appointed post in the hallway, I came to the conclusion that there were some rather unwanted guests in our midst."

Lucius shoved Harry into his companions, and continued with his tirade. "I have many options, here, as you can see." He paced in front of the frightened trio while he talked.

"I am not allowed to kill you; there have been specific orders not to directly attack those who oppose us at this time. Your deaths will come soon enough, and I will revel in the mere thought of your inexistence."

Harry prepared his wand for an attack, but Hermione pulled him back, in fear of the consequences for his actions. Lucius was an escaped convict, and a murderer. It would be wise to stay clear of his wrath as long as possible, no matter what he said.

"Foolish boy, your silly wand waving cannot help you. Only I can. You see, it would be quite beneficial to my master if you were dead. However, I can be merciful, and let you go free, but I am afraid you will have to leave your precious Cup behind. It is far more precious to my master." Lucius drawled away.

"On the other hand, it is the Dark Lord and you pathetic excuse for a boy who must battle in the end. And with that Cup in your possession, it still will never be enough for you to defeat the greatest wizard in the world. We shall prove his glory in the end, so take your silly Cup, boy."

The trio stared at the man. He seemed mad with arrogance, but they were not about to complain; he was indeed planning to let them go, with the item they had come for, too!

Lucius turned his attention to the boy standing next to Harry. "Red hair; a Weasley, no doubt. How is daddy dearest doing?"

Ron could only sputter at the man's words. He could not fight back, for fear of putting his life at risk.

"Do you know why your father was kidnapped and tortured, my boy? Do you know why your precious father was tormented in my manor's dungeons?"

"Yeah, I know, because you bloody well ordered it, you nasty ponce!" Ron could not control himself, and ended up yelling at his captor.

"Ah, but you do not know the reasoning, I presume. Let me enlighten you, all of you. Then you can return to your Order." Lucius was going to reveal the true nature behind the attack, only to wreak havoc with the information. He was obviously enjoying this.

"You are aware of your sister's affiliation with my son, are you not? I had become aware of that myself, even when I was still in that wretched prison, Azkaban." He smirked at the three unsuspecting children. "I ordered the attack. I ordered your father's kidnap and even implemented the torture myself! Why?"

He continued, simply. "Ginevra Weasley."

The trio gasped, audibly, in shock of the man's words. "You leave my sister alone, old man!" Ron angrily yelled.

"Or you'll what, boy? You will attack _me_? I am not afraid of what you might do to me."

"My son, despite his betrayal to the Dark Lord and my disinheritance of him that followed, is still, by blood, my son. I will not have him cavorting with the blood enemy! Punishment was due, and it was given without mercy. You should thank me for putting an end to your sister's whorish ways, boy."

Ron was beet red with anger, and was being held back by his friends. "You bleeding lunatic. You will live to regret this. I'll personally make sure of it!" Ron was overcome with a will for revenge.

"Your idle threats do not frighten me, child. Run along, I suspect you have some lamenting to do over this. We will kill you soon enough."

With that, Lucius Malfoy stalked out the room, his black cloak licking his heels with his exit.

The trio stared at the open door in disbelief. They were free, but the shocking truth of Arthur Weasley's kidnapping and torture was a fresh blow.

"Right then, 'Incendio' and Gubraithian fire all around." Ron commanded with renewed will to fight in his voice.

They all complied and succeeded in the destruction of the final Horcrux. They had finished their task.

Harry then activated the portkey and sent the trio back to the outskirts of Hogwarts.

Pausing to gather their wits, Hermione had a look of confusion on her face and took the opportunity to voice her concern. "That was too easy. They're planning something; I just know it! Voldemort is obviously up to something, and it's got to be huge if they let us get away!"

They continued on to the castle, running through the entrance, all the way to the Headmistress' office. Hermione screamed the password and they ran up the spiral of stairs to let the witch know that they had completed what had been asked of them.

Relaying their story, Ron purposely left out the bit about the Malfoy's motives for his father's kidnap and torture. That information was his to bear, and he would choose with whom to share it. The evil man and his motives would be Ron's drive throughout the war to defeat the Death Eaters at all costs. The war had just gotten quite personal for Ronald Weasley.

A couple of weeks had since passed, and the castle's inhabitants were fraught with stress and a sense of what was to come in the near future.

Ron had yet to confront Ginny and Draco about the information gleaned on their mission, but he would do that soon enough.

Ginny, on the other hand, was blissfully unaware of Ron's anger, and was only happy to know that her brother and friends had returned unscathed and successful from their perilous mission. Aside from her nightly rendezvous with Draco and Blaise in the library, she was content to spend time with her brother and friends in their Common Room. Her newfound respect and love for her brother were enough to annoy Ron to no end, as he tried so hard not to let the information in his head cloud his better judgement.

Ron knew that his sister was not directly at fault, and that it was Malfoy's fault, if anything, that Lucius had even bothered in the first place. However, it hurt to know that even back then Ginny had been consorting with Malfoy, and had kept it a secret for longer than he had thought.

The end of May drew nearer and the time was nigh for Ronald Weasley to confront his sister and her ill-chosen friend.


	18. This is Just the Beginning

**Chapter 18 – This is Just the Beginning**

Ginny and Draco were sitting at their usual table, on a normal Thursday evening in late May. Finals were just around the corner, and the school year was soon ending. The library was quite empty as most of the student body were in the Great Hall for dinner. The two had gone to the kitchens before dinner this time, to get their snack, and had then gone to their favourite spot in the library to finish some schoolwork.

However, this night was different from most. Ginny was attempting to tell Draco something important but would soon be interrupted by Ron, Harry and Hermione.

"Draco, can we talk?" Ginny asked, while pushing aside her schoolwork. "It's kind of important."

He nodded, "Sure, what's on your mind, Red?"

Ginny bit her lower lip and thoughtfully gazed into Draco's eyes. "We're friends, right?"

Draco nodded, again, as Ginny continued. "Well, I just wanted you to know; I mean this war is coming soon and it would be so unfortunate if I never got to tell you…"

Ginny was about to confess something to Draco, but sadly, she was interrupted as her brother and his friends stormed into the library. From the looks of it, Ron did not look happy.

"Oi, ferret, get your grubby paws away from my baby sister! Ginny, you get away from him this instant, or I'll… I'll…" Ron hollered at the startled couple. He had finaly decided to confront them with the information he had gleaned from Lucius Malfoy.

"You'll what, Ron? You'll make us? I don't think so." Ginny managed to spit out.

Ginny and Draco both stood up with quizzical expressions on their faces. Neither knew what was going on, and were very surprised at Ron's outburst.

"What Ronald is _trying _to say, Ginny, is that we think that there's more to this whole situation than Malfoy's let on, and you might very well be in danger right now." Hermione tried to reason, but it did not seem to be working.

Ron attempted to redeem himself. "Yeah Gin, I bet you didn't know your precious _friend_ had something to do with dad's kidnapping back in October! His daddy dearest ordered the kidnap and torture! Lucius told us himself!"

The trio had returned almost two weeks ago from their searching and destruction of the last two Horcruxes, and they all knew that war was soon to come.

"Draco had nothing to do with that, and you know it!" Ginny threw her Charms book at Ron, and screamed, "Ronald Bilius Weasley, you don't know what in the blazes you're talking about, and you'd do well to rememember that!"

As often happens when a witch or wizard is feeling extreme emotions, accidental magic is sure to occur. In Ginny Weasley's case, she accidentally apparated from where she was standing to behind Ron, where she then smacked him upside the head, without even thinking of what had just happened to her. What had just happened to her, _in Hogwarts_, of all places. She had not yet learned to Apparate, so this was quite strange indeed.

The trio and Draco all turned around to look at Ginny, and stared in disbelief.

"Err, Gin, dear, you just apparated… In Hogwarts." Draco was the first to say what all were thinking.

Before Ginny could say anything in return, loud cracks were heard as three Death Eaters appeared around them.

"Oh bugger. Looks like the war is on." Harry said calmly, and then threw a "Reducto" at the nearest Death Eater. His spell hit the wizard's wand arm and the spell about to be thrown at Harry was no longer a problem.

Ron and Hermione both sent a "Stupefy" at the next Death Eater, which gave the spell enough power to not only body-bind the man, but also send him flying across the library.

Ginny stood in her spot, still too stunned to do anything but stare at her friends and the fighting going on in front of her.

Suddenly, Ginny was brought out of her shock, as Draco knocked her to the ground. A jet of green light had just barely missed her.

"Snap out of it, Ginny! We're in trouble, here!" Draco tried to get her to realize the gravity of the situation at hand.

"Blimey, they destroyed the wards around the school! That's it!" Ginny screamed.

She jumped up and sent a Bat-Bogey hex at the last Death Eater standing. She then sent a nasty "Diffindo" at the Death Eater and managed to cut off the mask and reveal the Death Eater's identity.

Harry growled, "Bellatrix Lestrange." Without thinking, he said "Avada Kedavra" and the witch fell to the ground, dead.

The group of students stared at Harry, in shock, and did not say a word. To cast the killing spell, one must have deep hatred for the recipient of the spell. They all knew that Bellatrix had been responsible for the death of Sirius Black; it was obvious that Harry hated the woman.

Just then, Remus Lupin charged into the Library to see the two incapacitated Death Eaters, and the dead Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I was going to warn you lot that Death Eaters had attacked the castle, but it seems to be I am a tad late." Remus said, sheepishly. He looked down at the lifeless body on the library floor.

Harry looked Remus in the eyes, and said, simply, "I killed her." He stared blankly ahead at Remus for a good five minutes.

Remus walked up to the boy and shook him vigorously. "You had best snap out of this Harry, boy. We need you; the wizarding world needs you! Voldemort is somewhere in the castle, and he is absolutely livid. It's you or him, you know."

Draco had his arm around Ginny and was trying to console her. Hermione and Ron stood to Harry's side, and watched silently as he argued internally. What seemed like hours later, Harry gripped his wand tightly and said, "Let's go, then. That half-blood maniac is going down."

They ran out of the library, headed for the Great Hall where the student body had been attacked by the rest of the Death Eaters.

Outside the Hall, a few students were trying to protect themselves from the enemy. A Death Eater had two second-year Gryffindor students cornered at one side, and on the other side, another three were closing in on a fourth year Hufflepuff and his younger sister.

Ginny sent an Entrail-Expelling Curse at the Death Eater attacking the second-years, as Hermione sent a "furnunculus" his way, as well. The outcome was rather nasty, and both girls had to look away to keep themselves from gagging.

Draco sent an intense Gubraithian fire spell at the other three Death Eaters, causing them to set aflame. The spell was not normally used on people, and it was a shock to Remus Lupin that the boy had used it, even if on the Death Eaters. The wizards would stay ablaze, no matter what they did, until they were released from the spell. Or until they died.

When those Death Eaters were finished, the group continued on to the Great Hall, where the fighting was getting quite intense.

They burst through the double doors to find a room full of shrieking students and stressed professors throwing hexes and curses at maybe forty Death Eaters.

The war had begun.


	19. War

_**Author's Note: **The last Chapter, and the Epilogue, will be posted tomorrow afternoon/evening. (Depends when I'm home.)  
So that means by tomorrow night this story will be over! I've got it all written; it's just a matter of pacing myself posting the Chapters. I wanna make sure they're read and whatnot... :)_

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**Chapter 19 - War**

The Great Hall was in utter chaos and confusion. Students were screaming, and hiding under tables, professors were yelling orders at each other, and sending curses at the Death Eaters all at once.

"Blimey, it's begun, then." Ron said, dumbly.

"I don't suppose now would be as good a time as any to run in the opposite direction, would it?" Ginny said, with a half-smile playing on her lips.

Draco turned to his friend to reprimand her. "Now is definitely _not _the time to be making jokes like that, Ginevra. We _will_ fight the Death Eaters. We have no other choice, here."

The rest of the group gawked at the boy, not expecting to ever hear those words come out of his mouth. It had finally occurred to them that Draco Malfoy truly was on their side, whether they liked it or not.

"Malfoy's right, let's do this!" Harry cried, as he ran into the fray and stated shouting curses at the enemy.

The rest followed him blindly, and attempted to protect their fellow classmates and professors. There were as many as maybe forty Death Eaters amongst them, and half their number would be cut down in the next few minutes.

Ginny was standing close by to Harry, both fighting Death Eaters who were trying to kill or maim students around them. Draco was not far off, taking care of his fellow Slytherin, Blaise Zabini, who was being attacked from the front and behind.

Ron and Hermione were back-to-back sending curses at their assailants, and the rest of the Order members were spread out around the Hall, protecting the innocents.

Harry saw an object flying toward his head, and instinctively reached out to grab it. As his fist closed about the object Draco, Ginny who was nearest and had seen a Death Eater throw the projectile, screamed out in warning.

Harry was portkeyed to the Quidditch Pitch, but his companions would not find that out for another few moments.

In the meantime, Draco and Ginny pursued the Death Eater who had launched the portkey at Harry. Once they caught him, they trapped the man in magical ropes and Draco had his wand to the man's temple. "Speak, Death Eater." He pushed his wand harder into the man's head. "Where did that portkey take Harry?"

The Death Eater spat and refused to answer. Ginny threw a Bat-Bogey Hex at him, and repeated Draco's request. The man complied, and, within moments, they had informed the other Order members of Harry's whereabouts.

The Aurors and senior students were left to subdue the little remaining Death Eaters in the Great Hall as the Order of the Phoenix followed Harry to the Quidditch Pitch.

The Order apparated to the Pitch, not knowing what to expect. As they all appeared, they took in the sight of Harry Potter standing in front of Lord Voldemort prepared to fight until death. His death or Voldemort's. Maybe even both.

They quickly arranged themselves to fight the Death Eaters surrounding the two who wielded brother wands. They were surely outnumbered, but they would fight nonetheless.

Curses started flying and for the time being, Lord Voldemort was distracted from his fight with Harry. He hurried to shout orders at his henchmen, and paid close attention to the fighting going on around him. It was important to rid himself of the distraction the Order was making; he could not kill Harry Potter with his Death Eaters tied up with fighting. He needed them circled around him in protection to ensure that there was no interference in his plans of killing the Boy-Who-Would-Die. Harry quietly slipped away, hoping to get in on the action before fulfilling his destiny as Voldemort's marked opponent.

Hermione soon found herself under the Cruciatus curse, as she had been too distracted by Ron nearly being attacked to notice that there was a Death Eater behind her. Her screams pierced the night as Harry came running to her aid. Ron beat him to it. With a "Reducto" curse, Ron quickly removed the threat of the Death Eater spewing more curses that night. The man's body fell to the ground, missing a major body part. Hermione lay on the ground nearby still convulsing from the aftershock of the curse under which she had been.

The rest of the Order had some troubles, as well, but it was nothing they could not handle. That is not to say that they were to leave the night unscathed, though. It was a great fight for them all even to come out of the final battle alive, as the rest of the night would prove.

The Death Eaters were soon almost finished, and Voldemort took the opportunity to corner Harry away from the fighting. As the last Death Eaters fought for their lives, Harry was about to find out just how much he truly hated the Dark Lord and the evil he stood for.

In the midst of the action, Ginny found herself under the attention of none other than Lucius Malfoy. He had a look, that screamed trouble, plastered on his face. He advanced slowly, and knocked Ginny to the ground with a Cruciatus curse.

As Ginny screamed in pain on the ground, Draco lifted his head from his position a few paces away. He was caught up in a battle with two Death Eaters, and was unable to run to Ginny's aid at the moment.

Lucius let go of the curse he had on Ginny, and bent down to talk to the girl. "Do you think you can beat me, dear girl? You are sadly mistaken if that is the case."

Ginny spat in his face and hissed, "I'll beat you or I'll die trying!"

The elder Malfoy backhanded the girl across the face and stood up. "You are not worthy of my son, even in his base position as a disinherited heir. You are not worth the ground he walks upon; you are filth." He sneered as he spat out that last word. "I will not have my son attached to blood traitor of your standing. It is simply not done!"

Lucius Malfoy pulled out his wand and started to scream the killing curse when his only son tackled him to the ground.

"You will not touch a hair on her body!" Draco screamed, as he struggled for the upper hand with his father.

The two Malfoy's rolled around on the ground, Draco struggling to stay on top, and his father attempting to get him in a chokehold. At the last second, Lucius managed to push Draco off him, and point his wand at his son's chest.

Draco now stood between his close friend and his father, and was ready and willing to fight for Ginny's life, even if it meant taking down his father.

"Stand aside you fool. She must die for her actions." Lucius screamed.

Draco did not stand down, and answered his father with a steady and sure voice. "Never. You may be my father by blood, but you have no power over me. You haven't since the day you disinherited me. What gives you the right to decide my future and with whom I share it?"

Lucius stared at his defiant son, and hissed venomously. "Stand aside or you will pay for your insolence, boy! The muggle loving wretch must die!"

Draco stood his ground, and did nothing of the sort. "Over my dead body."

"Fool." With that, Lucius raised his wand and screamed the deadliest curse of all. A bright green light projected out of his wand and hit his son square in the chest. Ginny screamed as she had never screamed before.


	20. The End Has Arrived

**Chapter 20 – The End Has Arrived**

"No!" Ginny screamed, as the blinding green light subsided and she realized the reality of what had just happened.

She peered closely at the fallen boy's face. It looked so serene for a person who had just been angry and passionate enough to take a killing curse meant for someone else.

The girl did not have enough time to ponder the situation; Lucius Malfoy was, again, pointing his wand at her in an attempt to send an "Avada Kedavra" her way.

"You won't kill me. I'll destroy you before you can do this to anyone else, you vile man!"

Before Ginny could even utter those words that she would later regret, Harry had stepped in. He quickly cast a protection spell around them, "Protego!" He then started to explain to Ginny that no matter how hurt she was that she should not stoop down to Lucius' level. Killing him would make her no better than the Death Eaters they were fighting.

Ginny lowered her wand and quietly thanked the boy. "Thank you, Harry. Now, let's go kick some Death Eater arse!"

Harry let down the shield and was ready to continue his search for Lord Voldemort. However, Lucius Malfoy had other plans for the boy. The man figured that if Harry were dead, it would not matter that the prophecy had not been fulfilled. With Harry gone there would be no need for the prophecy, and nobody capable of saving the wizarding world from Voldemort's wrath.

Before Harry could realize what was going on, Lucius Malfoy had his wand pointed at him, ready to curse him into oblivion. At the last second, a stocky man with a silver hand jumped in front of Harry and sent his own curse at the blond haired man.

Peter Pettigrew had fulfilled his wizard's debt to Harry. Lucius Malfoy was dead before he could even utter the curse that would rid the world of the Boy-Who-Lived.

Astonished, Harry could only stare at what Peter had done to his fellow Death Eater.

"The debt's been paid, boy. Now run along and do what you must." Peter encouraged the boy, and then once Harry was out of view, Pettigrew put himself out of his misery.

As the last Death Eaters were taken hostage or demobilized, Harry Potter confronted the man formerly known as Tom Riddle.

"Prepare to die, Potter. I'm sure your parents will be delighted to be reunited with you at long last."

At the mention of his parents by the man who had killed them, Harry quickly sent the most hate filled curse he could at the evil wizard in front of him. Voldemort had sent the Avada at the exact same time as the unsuspecting boy.

A bright green light emitted from each wand, intercepting in the middle. Seconds later the light turned red and Harry was having a difficult time keeping his wand steady and the light unfaltering.

Apparitions spewed forth from Lord Voldemort's wand, and at some point in the procession, Harry's parents appeared before him. The James Potter standing aside him told him to hold on tightly, and the Lily Potter beside the apparition of his father asked him to remember the weapon she had given him as a mere baby.

With a newfound will and urge to defeat the Dark Lord at all costs, Harry turned his mind to the weapon his late mother had mentioned. Instead of the hate for the evil wizard that was powering his curse, he turned to the feeling of love that he had for his fellow Order Member's, his friends, his late parents, and for his life. He threw all that love at the wizard in front of him and watched the red light glow even brighter as it inched its way toward Lord Voldemort.

The light reached the wizard and his wand flew from his hands, burnt to a crisp. Slowly, Voldemort's skin started burning, and as his body writhed in pain, a bright light emanated from within him. With an explosion and a light piercing the dark night's sky, Voldemort was no longer. Harry Potter was again the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry lowered himself to the ground and placed his head in his hands. He was in shock.

The rest of the Order had stabilized the remaining Death Eaters and now held them captive under their watch. Many Order members were wounded, and only a handful had lost their lives, including Draco Malfoy.

Ginny lay on the ground, crying uncontrollably. Ron and Hermione sat nearby consoling one another; Charlie Wesley was dead not a few paces away from them. Alastor Moody was motionless on the ground near the Headmistress. A fellow Order member, Hestia Jones, had also been killed in the fight. The others were bleeding and bruised, but alive.

The captured Death Eaters were carted off to Azkaban as soon as possible, and the wounded Aurors and Order Members, as well as students from the Great Hall, were sent to the Hospital Wing or St. Mungo's, depending on the severity of their pains.

The next few hours were spent in silence for most of those who had fought in the final battle. The Headmistress arranged the funerals with the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour.

It would be a few days before the heroic fighters would be laid to rest on the grounds of Hogwarts. Honouring the dead would be a sad part of the beginning of the celebration for the downfall of the most evil wizard to grace the wizarding world since Grindelwald had been at large.

A week after the events that had taken place on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, most of the British Wizarding World attended the funeral procession of the fallen men and women that was to take place on Hogwarts' grounds.

The Weasley family mourned deeply for the loss of their second oldest son, Charlie. Ginny, on the other hand, was most distraught, as she had lost a dear brother, as well as a dear friend. She was inconsolable, and her family gave her the time and space she needed in order to heal her broken heart.

The funeral for the fallen heroes lasted a good three hours. The Minister of magic, as well as the Headmistress of Hogwarts gave their speeches, and even Harry was called upon to say a few words.

Harry did not know what to say, as he was still in shock over the events of the past week, and he was in mourning for all the people their cause had lost over the course of the war against evil.

He said, with a newfound maturity that the war had instilled in him, "We are here to mourn those we have lost in the great battle against the evil wizard of our time. Lord Voldemort is gone, but at what price? Our dear ones have been taken from us, but we honour their deaths this afternoon. We will honour their deaths through living; we must rebuild our community, and preach tolerance for all witches wizards and muggles, alike. Not hate. I propose we absolve Hogwarts of the four houses and unite ourselves under its glorious banner. We are one, us witches and wizards, let us not stand divided. We defeated the Dark Lord as a unit, and we will live forever more as a unit."

The audience applauded Harry's words with heartfelt enthusiasm. The time had come for the wizarding world to change. Peace was upon them, and they would live in tolerance, remembering those who fell, and the price of the lives they had retained.


	21. Epilogue

_**Author's Note: **It's finished!! At long last, the story is finished. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it _:)  
_I may write another story in the future but I have no idea what it would be about. I'll elt you know! Expect more OneShots though, those are fun. Sorry it had to end this way, but the idea just wrote itself, really. Maybe I'll write another story where they both live..._

* * *

**Epilogue **

The week leading up to the funeral had seen Ginny confined to her dormitory room, of her own free will. She refused to see or speak to anyone, and would only allow the house-elves to grace her presence. She refused to eat the food they sent up until one day her mother managed to get inside and saw how weak her daughter looked. She forced her to eat, but respected her daughter's wishes to be left alone.

Ginny had decided not to go to the funeral, she wanted to say goodbye to Draco when there weren't hundreds of witches and wizards around. There was so much she needed to say to him, and she wished so badly that he had not been taken away from her so soon.

The next morning, Ginny walked down to the area of school grounds that had been set aside for the graves of the fallen. In her hand was a dried black rose, the one that Draco had given her after their first and only fight. He had secreted it away for her when she had missed the Halloween feast, which was when her father had been kidnapped and tortured by Draco's father.

She bent down to touch the soft ground atop Draco's grave, and whispered to him.

"Draco, I can't believe you're gone." Tears started flowing down her cheeks, but that did not stop her from saying what she wanted to say.

"I know you're out there, somewhere, your spirit. I hope you can hear me, wherever your soul is." She swallowed hard, and continued. "That day in the library, I wanted to tell you something so important, but we never did get the chance to continue our conversation. I regret not trying to tell you sooner, I wish I hadn't waited til that day in the library."

Ginny paused for a few seconds to gather her wits. "I don't know how it happened, or why, but I've come to love you over time. And I wasn't sure if you felt the same. I guess you proved it when you didn't let your father kill me. But did you have to pay for it with your life?"

Angrily, Ginny continued. "I had such high hopes for us! We were to spend the summer together, celebrating the fall of the Dark Lord. We would laugh and have fun, we would love each other, and my family would learn to love you, too! We would be inseparable."

She sobbed, and managed to choke out, "…But you were so desperate to make sure I survived that in the end you paid with such desperate measures. And now you've left me all alone!"

"I need you, Draco. I need you more than ever. Who's going to comfort me now that Charlie's gone? Who's going to comfort me now that _you're_ gone?"

With a sigh, Ginny rose from her perch at Draco's graveside. "I suppose this is goodbye, dear friend... Rest in peace, love."

Ginny placed the dried black rose on top of Draco's freshly made grave and touched the tombstone in front of her with her fingers.

"I love you Draco, and one day we'll meet again. I'll live for you, but I wish you hadn't died for me."

With that, Ginny walked away from where Draco lay six feet under, and made her way back to the castle. Finals were a week away and Ginny would be finishing her sixth year at Hogwarts. It was the most memorable year she had had thus far, and she would never ever forget the Boy-Who-Had-Died.


End file.
